^U^A
HISTORY
OF
JOHNSON COUNTY,
INDIANA.
FROM THE EARLIEST TIME TO THE PRESENT, WITH BIOGRAPHICAL
SKETCHES, NOTES, ETC., TOGETHER WITH A SHORT HISTORY
OF THE NORTHWEST, THE INDIANA TERRITORY,
AND THE STATE OF INDIANA.
ILLUSTRATED.
CHICAGO :
BRANT & FULLER.
1888.
vtf 1
Democrat Printing Company, Madison, Wis.
PREFACE.
After several months of almost uninterrupted labor, the History of
Johnson County is completed. In issuing it to our patrons we do
not claim for it perfection ; but that it contains that reasonable de-
gree of accuracy which only could be expected of us, is confidently
asserted. The difficulties that surround such an undertaking can
scarcely be realized by one who has never engaged in work of the
kind. To reconcile the doubtful and often conflicting statements
that are so frequently made by those who would seem to be best
informed, is a task both perplexing and tedious. Yet we believe
that we have been able to present a history of the county that is as
nearly complete as reason can demand, and the book exceeds our
promises in almost every particular. We have endeavored to set
forth the facts in as concise and unostentatious language as possible,
believing it is for the facts and not for rhetorical display that the
book is desired. The mechanical execution and general appear-
ance of the volume will recommend it, even to the fastidious. The
arrangement of the matter is such as to render an index almost
superfluous, as the subject under consideration is at the top of every
right-hand page. For further details the italic subdivisions will
enable the reader to refer with readiness to any topic. In the spell-
ing of proper names there is such a wide difference, even among
members of the same family, and is a matter of so arbitrary a nature,
that our only guide was each man's desire. Every clew that gave
promise of important facts connected with the county's history has
been investigated by those engaged in the work. We believe the
volume will be favorably received and highly appreciated by those
for whom it was prepared. Our thanks are due to those who have
rendered us assistance and to our patrons.
THE PUBLISHERS.
Chicago, III., October, 188S.
1470.
CONTENTS.
PAST I-HISTOEY OF INDIANA.
CHAPTER I. page.
Prehistoric Races 17
Antiquities 19
Chinese, The 18
Discovery by Columbus 33
Explorations by the Whites 37
Indians, The 31
Immigration, The First 18
Immigration, The Second 20
Pyramids, etc. The 21
Relics of the Mound-Builders 23
Savage Customs 34
Tartars, The 23
Vincennes 39
Wabash River. The 39
White Men, The First 37
CHAPTER II.
National Policies, etc 41
American Policy, The 46
Atrocity of the .Savages 47
Burning of Hiuton., 48
British Policy, The 4t;
Clark's Expedition 52
French Scheme, The 41
Gilbault, Father 65
Government of the Northwest 67
Hamilton's Career 64
Liquor and < taming Laws 74
Missionaries, The Catholic 42
Ordinance of 1787 70
Pontiac's War 46
Ruse Against the Indians 64
Vigo, Francis 6
CHAPTER III.
Operations Against the Indians 76
Battle at Peoria Lake 104
Campaign of Harrison 92
Cession Treaties 93
Defeat of St. Clair 79
Defensive Operations 76
Expedition of Harmer 75
Expedition of Wayne 79
Expedition of St. Clair 7$
Expedition of Williamson 78
Fort Miami, Battle of 80
Harrison and the Indians 87
Hopkins' Campaign 105
Kickapoo Town, Burning of 7s
Blaumee, Battle of. 75
Massacre at Pigeon Roost 103
Mississinewa Town, Battle at 106
Oratory, Tecumseh's 114
Prophet Town, Destruction of. 100
Peace with the Indians 100
Siege of Fort Wayne mi
Siege of Fort Harrison 103
Tecumseh Ill
Tippecanoe, Battle of. 98
War of 1S12 101
War of 1812, Close of the lo8
CHAPTER IV.
Organization of Indiana Territory 82
Bank, Establishment of 120
Courts, Formation of 120
County Offices, Appointment of. 119
Corydon, the Capital 117
Gov. Posey 117
Indiana in 1810 84
Population in 1815 118
Territorial Legislature, The First 84
Western Sun, The 84
CHAPTER V. PAGE.
Organization of the State, etc 121
Amendment, The Fifteenth 147
Black Hawk War 126
Constitution, Formation of the 121
Campaigns Against the Indians 128
Defeat of Black Hawk 130
Exodus of the Indians 131
General Assembly, The First 122
Guadalupe-Hidalgo, Treaty of. 142
Harmony Community 134
Indian Titles 132
Immigration 125
Lafayette, Action at 127
Laud Sales 133
Mexican War, The 136
Slavery 144
CHAPTER VI.
Indiana in the Rebellion 148
Batteries of Light Infantry 182
Battle Record of States 188
Call to Arms, The 149
Colored Troops of Indiana 182
Calls of 1864 177
Field, In the 152
Independent Cavalry Regiment 181
Morgan's I laid 170
Minute-Men 170
One Hundred Days' Men 176
Regiments, Formation of 151
Regiments, Sketch of 153
Six Months' Regiments 172
CHAPTER VII.
State Affairs After the Rebellion 189
Agriculture 209
Coal 207
Divorce Laws 193
Finances 194
Geology 205
Internal Improvements 199
Indiana Horticultural Society 212
Indiana Promological Society 213
Special Laws 190
State Bank 106
State Board of Agriculture 2<«9
State Expositions 210
Wealth and Progress 197
CHAPTER VIII.
Education and Benevolence 215
Blind Institute, The 2 t2
City School System 218
Compensation of Teachers 220
Denominational and Private Institutions.... 230
Deaf and Dumb Institute 236
Educatic 265
Enumera m of Scholars 219
Family \ rship 252
FreeScho 5ysiem, The 215
Funds, Mi gemeut of the 217
Female Pr i and Reformatory 241
Housed" I ige, The 243
Insane Ho tal, The 238
Northern Ii ana Normal School 229
Origin of Sc ol Funds r 22l
Purdue Unh -sity 224
School Statis ;s 218
State Univer 1 . iy. The 222
State Normal School 228
State Prison, South' 239
State Prison, North 240
Total School Funds 220
VI
CONTEXTS.
PART II.— HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY.
CHAPTER I.
Indian History — Pre-historic Races— Early
Indian Occupants — The Miamis, Their
Habits and Characteristics— Indian Rel-
ics — The Delaware* — Their Residence in
Indiana — Remnants from Other Tribes
— Last of the Red Men 277
CHAPTER n.
Early Settlements — Territorial Times —
Traces and Early Roads— The Whetzels—
The Bluffs— Straggle for the Stat.- ( fcpi-
tol— First Permanent Settlement— Story
of the Settlement by Townships— The
■White and Blue Hiver Settlements —
Founding Franklin — Reminiscences.. . 290
CHAPTER HI.
The Pioneers — Where They Came From—
Who They Were — Arrival in the New
Country — Deserted Cabins — Architec-
ture of the Early Homes — Modes of
Travel — Hardships of New Comers
—Domestic Animals— Mast — Hog Steal-
ing — Situation of New Homes— Primi-
tive Tools — Mode of Farming — Himt-
ing Incidents — Woman's Work — Doc-
tors and Diseases — Morals, Social Cus-
toms, Etc 326
CHAPTER IV.
Schools — Early Legislative Acts in Rela-
tion to — Examination and Qualifica-
tions of Early Teachers — Primitive
Buildings and Methods — First Schools
— List of Early Pedagogues— Later and
More improved Methods— provisionsor
New Constitution — Present School Cen-
sus— Franklin College 361
CHAPTER V.
Bench and Bar — Circuit Court — Its Judges
and Officers — First Sessions — Early
Case: — Probate Court — Courts Under
the New Constitution — Common Pleas
— Fluctuation of Litigation — Circuit
Judges and Prosecuting Attorneys —
Early Attorneys 389
CHAPTER VI.
Geology — Situation and Boundarj- — Top-
ograph}- — Connected Section — Recent
Geology— Paleozoic Geology 462
CHAPTER VH.
Towns — Franklin — Early Business Men and
Residents — Incorporation — Officers —
Industries — Banks — The Press — Secret
Societies— Loan Associations — Edinburg
— Greenwood — Williamsburgh— Trafal-
gar— Whit eland— Union Village— Other
Small Villages 504
CHAPTER vm.
County Organization — Organic Act — Lo-
cating County Seat — Sale of Lots —
Public Buildings — Methods of Doing
O lunty Business — Finances — Poor Ex-
penses — Creation of Townships — Elec-
tions—County Officers — Roads Medi-
cal Societies. Etc 680
CHAPTER IX.
Military History — Early Militia — Black
Hawk War — Mexican War — Civil War
— Sentiments in I860 — First Troops —
Sketches of Regiments — Sentiment in
1068— Bounty and Relief— Men Furnished
for the War — Roll of Honor 736
CHAPTER X.
Religious History — Presbyterian Churches
at Franklin, Greenwood, Whiteland, Shi-
loh, Hopew ell, Edinburg, and Others —
Baptist Churches at Franklin, Green-
wood, Amity, Mt. Zion. Trafalgar, Mt.
Pleasant, Edinburg, and Other Points —
Christian Churches of the County —
Methodists — Catholics 837
In order to find any particular biographical
sketch, refer to the township in which the per-
son lives, where they will be found in alphabeti-
cal order. The sketches for each township be-
gin as follows:
Blue River Township 399
Clark Township 175
Franklin — City and Township
H.'usley Township 69?
Needham Township 719
Nineveh Township 743
Pleasant Township 767
Union Township B7I
White River Township 884
PORTRAITS.
D. D. Banta Frontispiece
William MeCaslin Facing 275
HISTORY OF INDIANA:
FORMER OCCUPANTS.
PREHISTORIC RACES.
Scientists have ascribed to the Mound Builders varied originSj
and though their divergence of opinion may for a time seem incom-
patible with a thorough investigation of the subject, and tend to
a confusion of ideas, no doubt whatever can exist as to the compar-
ative accuracy of conclusions arrived at by some of them. Like
the vexed question of the Pillar Towers of Ireland, it has caused
much speculation, and elicited the opinions of so many learned
antiquarians, ethnologists and travelers, that it will not be found
beyond the range of possibility to make deductions that may
suffice to solve the problem who were the prehistoric settlers of
America. To achieve this it will not be necessary to go beyond the
period over which Scripture history extends, or to indulge in tliose
airy nights of imagination so sadly identified with occasional
writers of even the Christian school, and all the accepted literary
exponents of modern paganism.
That this continent is co-existent with the world of the ancients
cannot be questioned. Every investigation, instituted under the
auspices of modern civilization, confirms the fact and leaves no
channel open through which the skeptic can escape the thorough
refutation of his opinions. China, with its numerous living testi-
monials of antiquity, with its ancient, though limited literature
and its Babelish superstitions, claims a continuous history from
antediluvian times; but although its continuity may be denied
witli every just reason, there is nothing to prevent the transmission
of a hieroglyphic record of its history prior to 1656 anno mundi,
since many traces of its early settlement survived the Deluge, and
became sacred objects of the first historical epoch. This very sur-
vival of a record, such as that of which the Chinese boast, is not
at variance with the designs of a God who made and ruled the
universe; but that an antediluvian people inhabited this continent,
13 HISTOET OF INDIANA.
■will not be claimed; because it is not probable, though it maybe
possible, that a settlement in a land which may be considered a
portion of the Asiatic continent, was effected by the immediate
followers of the first progenitors of the human race. Therefore, on
entering the study of the ancient people who raised these tumu-
lus monuments over large tracts of the country, it will be just
sufficient to wander back to that time when the flood-gates of
heaven were swung open to hurl destruction on a wicked world;
and in doing so the inquiry must be based on legendary, or rather
upon many circumstantial evidences; for, so far as written narra-
tive extends, there is nothing to show that a movement of people
too far east resulted in a Western settlement.
THE FIKST IMMIGRATION.
The first and most probable sources in which the origin of the
Builders must be sought, are those countries lying along the east-
ern coast of Asia, which doubtless at that time stretched far beyond
its present limits, and presented a continuous shore from Lopatka
to Point Cambodia, holding a population comparatively civilized,
and all professing some elementary form of the Boodhism of later
days. Those peoples, like the Chinese of the present, were bonnd
to live at home, and probably observed that law until after the con-
fusion of languages and the dispersion of the builders of Babel in
1757, a. m. ; but subsequently, within the following century, the
old Mongolians, like the new, crossed the great ocean in the very
paths taken by the present representatives of the race, arrived on
the same shores, which now extend a very questionable hospitality
to them, and entered at once upon the colonization of the country
south and east, while the Caucasian race engaged in a similar move-
ment of exploration and colonization over what may be justly
termed the western extension of Asia, and both peoples growing
stalwart under the change, attained a moral and physical eminence
to which they never could lay claim under the tropical sun which
6hed its beams upon the cradle of the human race.
That mysterious peopie who, like the Brahmins of to-day, wor-
shiped some transitory deity, and in after years, evidently embraced
the idealization of Boodhism, as preached in Mongolia early in the
35th century of the world, together with acquiring the learning of
the Confucian and Pythagorean schools of the same period, spread
all over the land, and in their numerous settlements erected these
ratns, or mounds, and sacrificial altars whereon they received their
HISTORT OF INDIANA. 19
periodical visiting gods, surrendered their bodies to natural absorp-
tion or annihilation, and watched lor the return of some transmi-
grated soul, the while adoring the universe, which with all beings
they believed would be eternally existent. They possessed religious
orders corresponding in external show at least with the Essenes or
Theraputa 1 of the pre-Christian and Christian epochs, and to the
reformed Theraputre or monks of the present. Every memento
of their coming and their stay which has descended to us is an evi-
dence of their civilized condition. The free copper found within
the tumuli; the open veins of the Superior and Iron Mountain
copper-mines, with all the mod us operandi of ancient mining, such
as ladders, levers, chisels, and hammer-heads, discovered by the
French explorers of the Northwest and the Mississippi, are conclu-
sive proofs that those prehistoric people were highly civilized, and
that many nourishing colonies were spread throughout the Missis-
sippi valley, while yet the mammoth, the mastodon, and a hundred
other animals, now only known by their gigantic fossil remains,
guarded the eastern shore of the continent as it were against sup-
posed invasions of the Tower Builders who went west from Babel;
while yet the beautiful isles of the Antilles formed an integral
portion of this continent, long years before the European Northman
dreamed of setting forth to the discovery of Greenland and the
northern isles, and certainly at a time when all that portion of
America north of latitude 45° was an ice-incumbered waste.
Within the last few years great advances have been made toward
the discovery of antiquities whether pertaining to remains of organic
or inorganic nature. Together with many small, but telling
relics of the early inhabitants of the country, the fossils of pre-
historic animals have been unearthed from end to end of the land,
and in districts, too, long pronounced by geologists of some repute
to be without even a vestige of vertebrate fossils. Among the
collected souvenirs of an age about which so very little is known,
are twenty-five vertebras averaging thirteen inches in diameter,
and three vertebras ossified together measure nine cubical feet; a
thigh-bone five feet long by twenty-eight, by tweive inches in
diameter, and the shaft fourteen by eight inches thick, the entire
lot weighing 600 lbs. These fossils are presumed to belong to the
cretaceous period, when the Dinosaur roamed over the country from
East to West, desolating the villages of the people. This animal
is said to have been sixty feet long, and when feeding in cypress
and palm forests, to extend himself eighty-five feet, 60 that he may
20 HrSTORY OF INDIANA.
devour the budding tops of those great trees. Other efforts in this
direction may lead to great results, and culminate probably in the
discovery of a tablet engraven by some learned Mound Builder,
describing; in the ancient hieroglyphics of China all these men and
beasts whose history excites so much speculation. The identity of
the Mound Builders with the Mongolians might lead us to hope
for such a consummation; nor is it beyond the range of probability,
particularly in this practical age, to find the future labors of some
industrious antiquarian requited by the upheaval of a tablet, written
in the Tartar characters of 1700 years ago, bearing on a subject
which can now be treated onfv on a purely circumstantial basis.
THE SECOND IMMIGRATION
may have begun a few centuries prior to the Christian era, and
unlike the former expedition or expeditions, to have traversed north-
eastern Asia to its Arctic confines, and then east to the narrow
channel now known as Behring's Straits, which they crossed, and
sailing up the unchanging Yukon, settled under the shadow of
Mount St. Elias for many years, and pushing South commingled
"with their countrymen, soon acquiring the characteristics of the
descendants of the first colonists. Chinese chronicles tell of such
a people, who went North and were never heard of more. Circum-
stances conspire to render that particular colony the carriers of a
new religious faith and of an alphabetic system of a representative
character to the old colonists, and they, doubtless, exercised a most
beneficial influence in other respects ; because the influx of immi-
grants of such culture as were the Chinese, even of that remote
period, must necessarily bear very favorable results, not only in
bringing in reports of their travels, but also accounts from the
fatherland bearing on the latest events.
With the idea of a second and important exodus there are many
theorists united, one of whom says: "It is now the generally
received opinion that the first inhabitants of America passed over
from Asia through these straits. The number of small islands
lying between both continents renders this opinion still more
probable; and it is yet farther confirmed by some remarkable traces
of similarity in the physical conformation of the northern natives
of both continents. The Esquimaux of North America, the
Samoieds of Asia, and the Laplanders of Europe, are supposed to
be of the same family; and this supposition is strengthened by the
affinity which exists in their languages. The researches of Hum-
HISTORY OF INDIANA. 21
boldt have traced the Mexicans to the vicinity of Behring's Straits;
whence it is conjectured that they, as well as the Peruvians and
other tribes, came originally from Asia, and were the Hiongnoos,
who are, in the Chinese annals, said to have emigrated under Puno,
and to have been lost in the North of Siberia." '
Since this theory is accepted by most antiquaries, there is every
reason to believe that from the discovery of what may be called an
overland route to what was then considered an eastern extension of
that country which is now known as the " Celestial Empire," many
caravans of emigrants passed to their new homes in the land of
illimitable possibilities until the way became a well-marked trail
over which the Asiatic might travel forward, and having once
entered the Elysian fields never entertained an idea of returning.
Thus from generation to generation the tide of immigration poured
in until the slopes of the Paciiic and the banks of the great inland
rivers became hives of busy industry. Magnificent cities and
monuments were raised at the bidding of the tribal leaders and
populous settlements centered with happy villages sprung up
everywhere in manifestation of the power and wealth and knowl-
edge of the people. The colonizing Caucasian of the historic
period walked over this great country on the very ruins of a civil-
ization which a thousand years before eclipsed all that of which he
could boast. He walked through the wilderness of the West over
buried treasures hidden under the accumulated growth of nature,
nor rested until he saw, with great surprise, the remains of ancient
pyramids and temples and cities, larger and evidently more beauti-
ful than ancient Egypt could bring forth after its long years of
uninterrupted history. The pyramids resemble those of Egypt in
exterior form, and in some instances are of larger dimensions. The
pyramid of Cholula is square, having each side of its base 1,335
feet in length, and its height about 172 feet. Another pyramid)
situated in the north of Vera Cruz, is formed of large- blocks
of highly-polished porphyry, and bears upon its front hiero-
glyphic inscriptions and curious sculpture. Each side of its
square base is 82 feet in length, and a flight of 57 steps conducts to
its summit, which is 65 feet in height. The ruins of Palenque are
said to extend 20 miles along the ridge of a mountain, and the
remains of an Aztec city, near the banks of the river Gila, are
spread over more than a square league. Their literature consisted
of hieroglyphics; but their arithmetical knowledge did not extend
farther than their calculations by the aid of graius of corn. Yet,
22 HISTORY OF INDIANA.
notwithstanding all their varied accomplishments, and they were
evidently many, their notions of religious duty led to a most demo-
niac zeal at once barbarously savage and ferociously cruel. Each
visiting, god instead of bringing new life to the people, brought
death to thousands; and their grotesque idols, exposed to drown
the senses of the beholders in fear, wrought wretchedness rather
than spiritual happiness, until, as some learned and humane Monte-
zumian said, the people never approached these idols without fear,
and this fear was the great animating principle, the great religious
motive power which sustained the terrible religion. Their altars
were sprinkled with blood drawn from their own bodies in large
quantities, and on them thousands of human victims were sacri-
ficed in honor of the demons whom they worshiped. The head
and heart of every captive taken in war were offered up as a bloody
sacrifice to the god of battles, while the victorious legions feasted
on the remaining portions of the dead bodies. It has been ascer-
tained that during the ceremonies attendant on the consecration of
two of their temples, the number of prisoners offered up in sacri-
fice was 12,210; while their own legions contributed voluntary
victims to the terrible belief in large numbers. Nor did this
horrible custom cease immediately after 1521, when Oortez entered
the imperial city of the Montezuraas; for, on being driven from
it, all his troops who fell into the hands of the native soldiers were
subjected to the most terrible and prolonged suffering that could be
experienced in this world, and when about to yield up that spirit
which is indestructible, were offered in sacrifice, their hearts and
heads consecrated, and the victors allowed to feast on the yet warm
flesh.
A reference is made here to the period when the Montezumas
ruled over Mexico, simply to gain a better idea of the hideous
idolatry which took the place of the old Boodhism of the Mound
Builders, and doubtless helped in a great measure to give victory
to the new comers, even as the tenets of Mahometanism urged the
ignorant followers of the prophet to the conquest of great nations.
It was not the faith of the people who built the mounds and the
pyramids and the temples, and who, 200 years before the Christian
era, built the great wall of jealous China. No: rather was it that
terrible faith born of the Tartar victory, which carried the great
defenses of China at the point of the javelin and hatchet, who
afterward marched to the very walls of Rome, under Alaric, and
HISTORY OF INDIANA. 23
spread over the islands of Polynesia to the Pacific slopes of South
America.
THE TARTARS
came there, and, like the pure Mongols of Mexico and the Missis-
sippi valley, rose to a state of civilization bordering on that attained
by them. Here for centuries the sons of the fierce Tartar race con-
tinued to dwell in comparative peace until the all-ruling ambition
of empire took in the whole country from the Pacific to the Atlan-
tic, and peopled the vast territory watered by the Amazon with a
race that was destined to conquer all the peoples of the Orient,
and only to fall before the march of the arch-civilizing Caucasian.
In course of time those fierce Tartars pushed their settlements
northward, and ultimately entered the territories of the Mound
Builders, putting to death all who fell within their reach, and
causing the survivors of the death-dealing invasion to seek a refuge
from the hordes of this semi-barbarous people in the wilds and fast-
nesses of the North and Northwest. The beautiful country of the
Mound Builders was now in the hands of savage invaders, the quiet,
industrious people who raised the temples and pyramids were gone;
and the wealth of intelligence and industry, accumulating forages,
passed into the possession of a rapacious horde, who could- admire
it only so far as it offered objects for plunder. Even in this the
invaders were satisfied, and then having arrived at the height of
their ambition, rested on their swords and entered upon the luxury
and ease in the enjoyment of which they were found when the van-
guard of European civilization appeared upon the scene. Mean-
time the southern countries which those adventurers abandoned
after having completed their conquests in the North, were soon
peopled by hundreds of people, always moving from island to
island and ultimately halting amid the ruins of villages deserted
by those who, as legends tell, had passed eastward but never returned;
and it would scarcely be a matter for surprise if those emigrants
were found to be the progenitors of that race found by the Spaniards
in 1532, and identical with the Araucanians, Cuenches and HuiL
tidies of to-day.
RELICS OF THE MOUND BUILDERS.
One of the most brilliant and impartial historians of the Republic
stated that the valley of the Mississippi contained no monuments.
So far as the word is entertained now, he was literally correct, but
24 HISTOKV OF INDIANA.
in some hasty effort neglected to qualify bis sentence by a refer-
ence to the numerous relics of antiquity to be found throughout
its length and breadth, and so exposed his chapters to criticism.
The valley of the Father of Waters, and indeed the country from
the trap rocks of the Great Lakes southeast to the Gulf and south-
west to Mexico, abound in tell-tale monuments of a race of people
much farther advanced in civilization than the Montezumas of the
sixteenth century. The remains of walls and fortifications found
in Kentucky and Indiana, the earthworks of Vincennes and
throughout the valley of the Wabash, the mounds scattered over
Alabama, Florida, Georgia and Virginia, and those found in Illi-
nois, Wisconsin and Minnesota, are all evidences of the univer-
sality of the Chinese Mongols and of their advance toward a com-
parative knowledge of man and cosmology. At the mouth of
Fourteen-Mile creek, in Clark county, Indiana, there stands one of
these old monuments known as the " Stone Fort." It is an
unmistakable heirloom of a great and ancient people, and must
have formed one of their most important posts. The State Geolo-
gist's report, filed among the records of the State and furnished
by Prof. Cox, says: "At the mouth of Fourteen-Mile creek, and
about three miles from Charleston, the county-seat of Clark county,
there is one of the most remarkable stone fortifications which has
ever come under my notice. Accompanied by my assistant, Mr.
Borden, and a number of citizens of Charleston, I visited the 'Stone
Fort' for the purpose of making an examination of it. The locality
selected for this fort presents many natural advantages for making
it impregnable to the opposing forces of prehistoric times. It
occupies the point of an elevated narrow ridge which faces the
Ohio river on the east and is bordered by Fourteen-Mile creek on
the west side. This creek empties into the Ohio a short distance
below the fort. The top of the ridge is pear-shaped, with the
part answering to the neck at the north end. This part is not
over twenty feet wide, and is protected by precipitous natural walls
of stone. It is 2S0 feet above the level of the Ohio river, and the
slope is very gradual to the south. At the upper field it is 210 feet
high and one hundred steps wide. At the lower timber it is 120
feet high. The bottom land at the foot of the south end is sixty
feet above the river. Along the greater part of the Ohio river
front there is an abrupt escarpment rock, entirely too steep to be
scaled, and a similar natural barrier exists along a portion of the
northwest side of the ridge, facing the creek. This natural wall
w
i
t-
I
c
>
E
R
M
H
c
X
HISTORY OF INDIANA. 27
is joined to the neck of an artificial wall, made by piling up, mason
fashion but without mortar, loose stone, which had evidently been
pried up from the carboniferous layers of rock. This made wall, at
this point, is about 150 feet long. It is built along the slope of the
hill and had an elevation of about 75 feet above its base, the upper
ten feet being vertical. The inside of the wall is protected by a
ditch. The remainder of the hill is protected by an artificial stone
wall, built in the same manner, but not more than ten feet high.
The elevation of the side wall above the creek bottom is 80 feet.
Within the artificial walls is a string of mounds which rise to the
height of the wall, and are protected from the washing of the hill-
sides by a ditch 20 feet wide and four feet deep. The position of
the artificial walls, natural cliffs of bedded stone, as well as that of
the ditch and mounds, are well illustrated. The top of the enclosed
ridge embraces ten or twelve acres, and there are as many as five
mounds that can be recognized on the flat surface, while no doubt
many others existed which have been obliterated by time, and
though the agency of man in his efforts to cultivate a portion of
the ground. A trench was cut into one of these mounds in search
of relics. A few fragments of charcoal and decomposed bones, and
a large irregular, diamond-shaped boulder, with a small circular
indentation near the middle of the upper part, that was worn quite
smooth by the use to which it had been put, and the small pieces
of fossil coral, comprised all the articles of note which were revealed
by the excavation. The earth of which the mound is made resem-
bles that seen on the hillside, and was probably in most part taken
from the ditch. The margin next to the ditch was protected by
slabs of stone set on edge, and leaning at an angle corresponding to
the sloTie of the mound. This stone shield was two and one-half
feet wide and one foot high. At intervals along the great ditch
there are channels formed between the mounds that probably served
to carry off the surplus water through openings in the outer wall.
On the top of the enclosed ridge, and near its narrowest part, there
is one mound much larger than any of the others, and so situated
as to command an extensive view up and down the Ohio river, as well
as affording an unobstructed view east and west. This is designated
as ' Look-out Mound.' There is near it a slight break in the cliff
of rock, which furnished a narrow passageway to the Ohio river.
Though the locality afforded many natural advantages for a fort or
stronghold, one is compelled to admit that much skill was displayed
and labor expended in making its defense as perfect as possible at
28 HIST0KT OF INDIANA.
all points. Stone axes, pestles, arrow-beads, spear-points, totums,
charms and flint flakes have been found in great abundance in
plowing the field at the foot of the old fort."
From the " Stone Fort " the Professor turns bis steps to Posey
county, at a point on the Wabash, ten miles above the mouth,
called "Bone Bank," on account of the number of human bones
continually washed out from the river bank. " It is," he states
"situated in a bend on the left bank of the river; and the ground
is about ten feet above high-water mark, being the only land along
this portion of the river that is not submerged in seasons of high
water. The bank slopes gradually back from the river to a slough.
This slough now seldom contains water, but no doubt at one time
it was an arm of the Wabash river, which flowed around the Bone
Bank and afforded protection to the island home of the Mound
Builders. The Wabash has been changing its bed for many years,
leaving a broad extent of newly made land on the right shore, and
gradually making inroads on the left shore by cutting away the
Bone Bank. The stages of growth of land on the right bank of the
river are well defined by thecottonwood trees, which increase in size
as you go back from the river. Unless there is a change in the cur-
rent ot the river, all trace of the Bone Bank will be obliterated.
Already within the memory of the white inhabitants, the bank has
been removed to the width of several hundred yards. As the bank
is cut by the current of the river it loses its support, and when the
water sinks it tumbles over, carrying with it the bones of the
Mound Builders and the cherished articles buried with them. No
locality in the country furnishes a greater number and variety of
relics than this. It has proved especially rich in pottery of
quaint design and skillful workmanship. I have a number of jugs
and pots and a cup found at the Bone Bank. This kind of work
has been very abundant, and is still found in such quantities that
we are led to conclude that its manufacture formed a leading indus-
try of the inhabitants of the Bone Bank. It is not in Europe
alone that we find a well-founded claim of high antiquity for the
art of making hard and durable stone by a mixture of clay, lime,
sand and stone; for I am convinced that this art was possessed by
a race of people who inhabited this continent at a period so remote
that neither tradition nor history can furnish any account of them.
They belonged to the Neolithic, or polished-stone, age. They lived
in towns and built mounds for sepulture and worship and pro-
tected their homes by surrounding them with walls of earth and
HISTORY OF INDIANA.
20
stone. In some of these mounds specimens of various kinds of
pottery, in a perfect state of preservation, have from time to time
been found, and fragments are so common that every student of
archaeology can have a bountiful supply. Some of these fragments
indicate vessels of very great size. At the Saline springs of Gal-
latin I picked up fragments that indicated, by their curvature, ves-
sels five to six feet in diameter, and it is probable they are frag-
ments of artificial stone pans used to hold brine that was manufac-
tured into salt by solar evaporation.
" Now, all the pottery belonging to the Mound Builders' age,
which I have seen, is composed of alluvial clay and sand, or a mix-
ture of the former with pulverized fresh-water shells. A paste
made of such a mixture possesses, in high degree, the properties of
hydraulic Puzzuoland and Portland cement, so that vessels formed
of it hardened without being burned, as is customary with modern
pottery."
The Professor deals very aptly with this industry of the aborig-
ines, and concludes a very able disquisition on the Bone Bank in
its relation to the prehistoric builders.
e^o%
&MMm
c/r .; -°"x ■"<¥
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y m
HIEROGLYPHICS OF THE MOUND-BUILDERS.
The creat circular redoubt or earth-work found two miles west of
the village of New Washington, and the " Stone Fort," on a ridge
one mile west of the village of Deputy, offer a subject for the anti-
quarian as deeply interesting as any of the monuments of a
decayed empire so far discovered.
30 HISTORY OF INDIANA.
From end to end of Indiana there are to be found many other rel-
ics of the obscure past. Some of them have been unearthed and now
appear among the collected antiquities at Indianapolis. The highly
finished sandstone pipe, the copper ax, stone axes, flint arrow-heads
and magnetic plummets found a few years ago beneath the soil of
Cut-Off Island near New Harmony, together with the pipes of rare
workmanship and undoubted age, une.irthed near Covington, all
live as it were in testimony of their owner's and maker's excel-
lence, and hold a share in the evidence of the partial annihilation
of a race, with the complete disruption of its manners, customs
ami industries; and it is possible that when numbers of these relics
are placed together, a key to the phonetic or rather hieroglyphic
system of that remote period might be evolved.
It may be asked what these hieroglyphical characters really are,
Well, they are varied in form, so much so that the pipes found in
the mounds of Indians, each bearing a distinct representation of
some animal, may be taken for one species, used to represent the
abstract ideas of the Mound Builders. The second form consists
of pure hieroglyphics or phonetic characters, in which the sound is
represented instead of the object; and the third, or painted form of
the first, conveys to the mind that which is desired to be repre-
sented. This form exists among the Cree Indians of the far North-
west, at present. They, when departing from their permanent vil-
lages for the distant hunting grounds, paint on the barked trees in
the neighborhood the figure of a snake or eagle, or perhaps huskey
dog; and this animal is supposed to guard the position until the
warrior's return, or welcome any friendly tribes that may arrive
there in the interim. In the case of the Mound Builders, it is un-
likely that this latter extreme was resorted to, for the simple reason
that the relics of their occupation are- too high in the ways of art to
tolerate such a barbarous science of language; but the sculptured
pipes and javelins and spear-heads of the Mound Builders may be
taken as a collection of graven images, each conveying a set of
ideas easily understood, and perhaps sometimes or more generally
used to designate the vocation, name or character of the owner.
That the builders possessed an alphabet of a phonetic form, and
purely hieroglyphic, can scarcely be questioned; but until one or
more of the unearthed tablets, which bore all or even a portion of
such characters, are raised from their centuried graves, the mystery
which surrounds this people must remain, while we must dwell in
a world of mere speculation.
HISTOET OF INDIANA. 31
> Vigo, Jasper, Sullivan, Switzerland and Ohio counties can boast
of a most liberal endowment in this relation; and when in other
days the people will direct a minute inquiry, and penetrate to the
very heart of the thousand cones which are scattered throughout
the land, they may possibly extract the blood in the shape of metal-
lic and porcelain works, with hieroglyphic tablets, while leaving
the form of heart and body complete to entertain and delight un-
born generations, who in their time will wonder much when they
learn that an American people, living toward the close of the 59th
century, could possibly indulge in such an anachronism as is im-
plied in the term "New World."
THE INDIANS.
The origin of the Red Men, or American Indians, is a subject
which interests as well as instructs. It is a favorite with the eth-
nologist, even as it is one of deep concern to the ordinary reader.
A review of two works lately published on the origin of the Indians
treats the matter in a peculiarly reasonable light. It says:
" Recently a German writer has put forward one theory on the
subject, and an English writer has put forward another and directly
opposite theory. The difference of opinion concerning our aborig-
inals among authors who have made a profound study of races is at
once curious and interesting. Elumenbach treats them in his
classifications as a distinct variety of the human family; but, in the
threefold division of Dr. Latham, they are ranked among the Mon-
golidre. Other writers on race regard them as a branch of the great
Mongolian family, which at a distant period found its way from
Asia to this continent, and remained here for centuries separate
from the rest of mankind, passing, meanwhile, through divers
phases of barbarism and civilization. Morton, our eminent eth-
nologist, and his followers, Nott and Gliddon, claim for our native
Red Men an origin as distinct as the flora and fauna of this conti-
nent. Prichard, whose views are apt to differ from Morton's, finds
reason to believe, on comparing the American tribes together, that
they must have formed a separate department of nations from the
earliest period of the world. The era of their existence as a distinct
and insulated people must probably be dated back to the time
which separated into nations the inhabitants of the Old World, and
fave to each its individuality and primitive language. Dr. Robert
Irown, the latest authority, attributes, in his " Races of Mankind,"
an Asiatic origin to our aboriginals. He says that the Western In-
dians not only personally resemble their nearest neighbors — the
Northeastern Asiatics — but they resemble them in language and
traditions. The Esquimaux on the American and the Tchuktchis
on the Asiatic side understand one another perfectly. Modern an-
32 HISTORY OF INDIANA.
thropologists, indeed, are disposed to think that Japan, the Kuriles,
and neighboring regions, may be regarded as the original home of
the greater part of the native American race. It is also admitted
by them that between the tribes scattered from the Arctic sea to
Cape Horn there is more uniformity of physical features than is
seen in any other quarter of the globe. The weight of evidence
and authority is altogether in favor of the opinion that our so-
called Indians are a branch of the Mongolian family, and all addi-
tional researches strengthen the opinion. The tribes of both North
and South America are unquestionably homogeneous, and, in all
likelihood, had their origin in Asia, though they have been altered
and modified by thousands of years of total separation from the
parent stock."
The conclusions arrived at by the reviewer at that time, though
safe, are too general to lead the reader to form any definite idea on
the subject. No doubt whatever can exist, when the American In-
dian is regarded as of an Asiatic origin; but there is nothing in the
works or even in the review, to which these works were subjected,
which might account for the vast difference in manner and form
between the Red Man, as he is now known, or even as he appeared
to Columbus and his successors in the field of discovery, and the
comparatively civilized inhabitants of Mexico, as seen in 1521 by
Cortez, and of Pern, as witnessed by Pizarro in 1532. The fact is
that the pure bred Indian of the present is descended directly
from the earliest inhabitants, or in other words from the survivors
of that people who, on being driven from their fair possessions, re-
tired to the wilderness in sorrow and reared up their children under
the saddening influences of their unquenchable griefs, bequeathing
them only the habits of the wild, cloud-roofed home of their de-
clining years, a sullen silence, and a rude moral code. In after
years these wild sons of the forest and prairie grew in numbers and
in strength. Some legend told them of their present sufferings, of
the station which their fathers once had known, and of the riotous
race which now reveled in wealth which should be theirs. The
fierce passions of the savage were aroused, and uniting their scat-
tered bands marched in silence upon the villages of the Tartars,
driving them onward to the capital of their Incas, and consigning
their homes to the flames. Once in view of the great city, the
hurrying bands halted in surprise; but Tartar cunning took in the
situation and offered pledges of amity, which were sacredly ob-
served. Henceforth Mexico was open to the Indians, bearing pre-
cisely the same relation to them that the Hudson's Bay Company's
HISTOKY OF INDIANA. 33
villages do to the Northwestern Indians of the present; obtaining
all, and bestowing very little. The subjection of the Mongolian
race represented in North America by that branch of it to which
the Tartars belonged, represented in the Southern portion of the con-
tinent, seems to have taken place some five centuries before the
advent of the European, while it may be concluded that the war of
the races which resulted in reducing the villages erected by the
Tartar hordes to ruin took place between one and two hundred
years later. These statements, though actually referring to events
which in point of time are comparatively modern, can only be sub-
stantiated by the facts that, about the periods mentioned the dead
bodies of an unknown race of men were washed ashore on the Eu-
ropean coasts, while previous to that time there is no account
whatever in European annals of even a vestige of trans-Atlantic hu-
manity being transferred by ocean currents to the gaze of a won-
dering people. Towards the latter half ot the 15th century two
dead bodies entirely free from decomposition, and corresponding
with the Red Men as they afterward appeared to Columbus, were
cast on the shores of the Azores, and confirmed Columbus in his be-
lief in the existence of a western world and western people.
Storm and flood and disease have created sad havoc in the ranks
of the Indian since the occupation of the country by the white man.
These natural causes have conspired to decimate the race even more
than the advance of civilization, which seems not to affect it to any
material extent. In its maintenance of the same number of rep-
resentatives during three centuries, and its existence in the very
face of a most unceremonious, and, whenever necessary, cruel con-
quest, the grand dispensations of the unseen Ruler of the universe
is demonstrated; for, without the aborigines, savage and treach-
erous as they were, it is possible that the explorers of former times
would have so many natural difficulties to contend with, that their
work would be surrendered in despair, and the most fertile regions
of the continent saved for the plowshares of generations yet un-
born. It is questionable whether we owe the discovery of this con-
tinent to the unaided scientific knowledge of Columbus, or to the
dead bodies of the two Indians referred to above; nor can their ser-
vices to the explorers of ancient and modern times be over-esti-
mated. Their existence is embraced in the plan of the Divinity
for the government of the world, and it will not form subject for
surprise to learn that the same intelligence which sent a thrill of
liberty into every corner of the republic, will, in the near future,
31 HISTORY OF INDIANA.
devise some method under which the remnant of a great and an-
cient race may taste the sweets of public kindness, and feel that,
after centuries of turmoil and tyranny, they have at last found a
shelter amid a sympathizing people. Many have looked at the In-
dian as the pessimist does at all things; they say that he was never
formidable until the white man supplied him with the weapons of
modern warfare; but there is no mention made of his eviction from
his retired home, and the little plot of cultivated garden which-
formed the nucleus of a village that, if fostered instead of being
destroyed, might possibly hold an Indian population of some im-
portance in the economy of the nation. There is no intention what-
ever to maintain that the occupation of this country by the favored
races is wrong even in principle; for where any obstacle to advanc-
ing civilization exists, it has to fall to the ground; but it may be
said, with some truth, that the white man, instead of a policy of
conciliation formed upon the power of kindness, indulged in bel-
ligerency as impolitic as it was unjust. A modern writer says,
when speaking of the Indian's character: "He did not exhibit that
steady valor and efficient discipline of the American soldier; and
to-day on the plains Sheridan's troopers would not hesitate to
attack the bravest band, though outnumbered three to one." This
piece of information applies to the European aud African, as well
as to the Indian. The American soldier, and particularly the
troopers referred to, would not fear or shrink from a very legion ot
demons, even with odds against them. This mode of warfare seems
strangely peculiar when compared with the military systems of
civilized countries; yet, since the main object of armed men is to
defend a country or a principle, and to destroy anything which may
oppose itself to them, the mode of warfare pursued fry the savage
will be found admirably adapted to their requirements in this con-
nection, and will doubtless compare favorably with the systems of
the Afghans and Persians of the present, and the Caucasian people
<sf the first historic period.
MANNERS AND' CUSTOMS.
The art of hunting not only supplied the Indian with food, but,
like that of war, was a means of gratifying his love of distinction.
The male children, as soon as they acquired sufficient age and
strength, were furnished with a bow and arrow and taught to shoot
birds and other small game. Success in killing a large quadruped
required years of careful study and practice, and the art was as
HISTORY OF INDIANA. 35
sedulously inculcated in the minds of the rising generation as are
the elements of reading, writing and arithmetic in the common
schools of civilized communities. The mazes of the forest and the
dense, tall grass of the prairies were the best fields for the exercise
of the hunter's skill. No feet could be impressed in the yielding
soil but that the tracks were the objects of the most searching
scrutiny, and revealed at a glance the animal that made them, the
direction it was pursuing, and the time that had elapsed since it
hud passed. In a forest country he selected the valleys, because
they were most frequently the resort of game. The most easily
taken, perhaps, of all the animals of the chase was the deer. It is
endowed with a curiosity which prompts it to stop in its flight and
look back at the approaching hunter, who always avails himself of
this opportunity to let fly the fatal arrow.
Their general councils were composed of the chiefs and old men.
"When in council, they usually sat in concentric circles around the
speaker, and each individual, notwithstanding the fiery passions
that rankled within, preserved an exterior as immovable as if cast
in bronze. Before commencing business a person appeared with
the sacred pipe, and another with fire to kindle it. After being
lighted it was first presented to heaven, secondly to the earth,
thirdly to the presiding spirit, and lastly the several councilors,
each of whom took a whiff. These formalities were observed with
as close exactness as state etiquette in civilized courts.
The dwellings of the Indians were of the simplest and rudest
character. On some pleasant spot by the bank of a river, or near
an ever-running spring, they raised their groups of wigwams, con-
structed of the bark of trees, and easily taken down and removed
to another spot. The dwelling-places of the chiefs were sometimes
more spacious, and constructed with greater care, but of the same
materials. Skins taken in the chase served them for repose.
Though principally dependent upon hunting and fishing, the
uncertain supply from those sources led them to cultivate small
patches of corn. Every family did everything necessary within
itself, commerce, or an interchange of articles, being almost unknown
to them. In cases of dispute and dissension, each Indian relied
upon himself for retaliation. Blood for blood was the rule, and
the relatives of the slain man were bound to obtain blood)' revenge
for his death. This principle gave rise, as a matter of course, to
innumerable and bitter feuds, and wars of extermination where such
were possible. "War, indeed, rather than peace, was the Indian's
36 HISTORY OF INDIANA.
glory and delight, — war, not conducted as civilization, but war
where individual skill, endurance, gallantry and cruelty were prime
requisites. For such a purpose as revenge the Indian would make
great sacrifices, and display a patience and perseverance truly heroic;
but when the excitement was over, he sank back into a listless, un-
occupied, well-nigh useless savage. During the intervals of his
more exciting pursuits, the Indian employed his time in decorating
his person with all the refinement of paint and feathers, and in the
manufacture of his arms and of canoes. These were constructed of
bark, and so light that they could easily be carried on the shoulder
from stream to stream. His amusements were the war-dance, ath-
letic games, the narration of his exploits, and listening to the ora-
tory of the chiefs; but during long periods of such existence he
remained in a state of torpor, gazing listlessly upon the trees of
the forests and the clouds that sailed above them; and this vacancy
imprinted an habitual gravity, and even melancholy, upon his gen-
eral deportment.
The main labor and drudgery of Indian communities fell upon
the women. The planting, tending and gathering of the crops,
making mats and baskets, carrying burdens, — in fact, all things of
the kind were performed by them, thus making their condition but
little better than that of slaves. Marriage was merely a matter of
bargain and sale, the husband giving presents to the father of the
bride. In general they had but few children. They were sub-
jected to many and severe attacks of sickness, and at times famine
and pestilence swept away whole tribes.
EXPLORATIONS BY THE WHITES.
EARLIEST EXPLORERS.
The State of Indiana is bounded on the east by the meridian line
which forms also the western boundary of Ohio, extending due
north from the mouth of the Great Miami river; on the south by
the Ohio river from the mouth of the Great Miami to the mouth
of the Wabash ; on the west hyaline drawn along the middle of
the Wabash river from its mouth to a point where a due north
line from the town of Vincennes would last touch the shore of said
river, and thence directly north to Lake Michigan; and on the north
by said lake and an east and west line ten miles north of the ex-
treme south end of the lake, and extending to its intersection with
the aforesaid meridian, the west boundary of Ohio. These bound-
aries include an area of 33,809 square miles, lying between 37°
47' and 41° 50' north latitude, and between 7° 45' and 11° 1' west
longitude from Washington.
After the discovery of America by Columbus in 1492, more than
150 years passed away before any portion of the territory now com-
prised within the above limits was explored by Europeans. Colo-
nies were established in Florida, Virginia and Nova Scotia by the
principal rival governments of Europe, but not until about 1670-'2
did the first white travelers venture as far into the Northwest as
Indiana or Lake Michigan. These explorers were Frenchmen by
the names of Claude Allouez and Claude Dablon, who then visited
what is now the eastern part of Wisconsin, the northeastern portion
of Illinois and probably that portion of this State north of the Kan-
kakee river. In the following year M. Joliet, an agent of the
French Colonial government, and James Marquette, a good and
simple-hearted missionary who had his station at Mackinaw, ex-
plored the country about Green Bay, and along Fox and Wiscon-
sin rivers as far westward as the Mississippi, the banks of which
they reached June 17, 1673. They descended this river to about
33° 40', but returned by way of the Illinois river and the route
they came in the Lake Region. At a village among the Illinois In-
dians, Marquette and his small band of adventurers were received
C37J
88 HISTORY OF INDIANA.
in a friendly manner and treated hospitably. They were made the
honored guest; at a great feast, where hominy, fish, dog meat and
roast buffalo meat were spread before them in great abundance. In
16S2 LaS&'.'e explored the "West, but it is not known that he entered
the region now embraced within the State of Indiana. He took
formal possession, however, of all the Mississippi region in the
name of the King of France, in whose honor he gave all this Mis-
sissippi region, including what is now Indiana, the name " Louisi-
ana." Spain at the same time laid claim to all the region about
the Gulf of Mexico, and thus these two great nations were brought
into collision. But the country was actually held and occupied by
the great Miami confederacy of Indians, the Miamis proper (an-
ciently the Twightwees) being the eastern and most powerful tribe.
Their territory extended strictly from the Scioto river west to the
Illinois river. Their villages were few and scattering, and their
occupation was scarcely dense enough to maintain itself against in-
vasion. Their settlements were occasionally visited by Christian
missionaries, fur traders and adventurers, but no body of white men
made any settlement sufficiently permanent for a title to national
possession. Christian zeal animated France and England in mis-
sionary enterprise, the former in the interests of Catholicism and
the latter in the interests of Protestantism. Hence their haste to
preoccup}' the land and proselyte the aborigines. No doubt this
ugly rivalry was often seen by Indians, and they refused to be
proselyted to either branch of Christianity.
The " Five Nations," farther east, comprised the Mohawks,
Oneidas, Cayugas, Onondaguas and Senecas. In 1677 the number
of warriors in this confederacy was 2,150. About 1711 the Tusca-
roras retired from Carolina and joined the Iroquois, or Five Na-
tions, which, after that event, became known as the " Six Nations."
In 16S9 hostilities broke out between the Five Nations and the
colonists of Canada, and the almost constant wars in which France
was engaged until the treaty of Ryswick in 1697 combined to
check the grasping policy of Louis XIV., and to retard the plant-
ing of French colonies in the Mississippi valle} 7 . Missionary efforts,
however, continued with more failure than success, the Jesuits
allying themselves with the Indians in habits and customs, even
encouraging inter-marriage between them and their white fol-
lowers.
HISTORY OF INDIANA. 39
OUABACUE.
The Wabash was first named by the French, and spelled by them
Ouabache. This river was known even before the Ohio, and was
navigated as the Ouabache all the way to the Mississippi a long time
before it was discovered that it was a tributary of the Ohio (Belle
Riviere). In navigating the Mississippi they thought they passed
the mouth of the Ouabache instead of the Ohio. In traveling from
the Great Lakes to the south, the French always went by the way of
the Ouabache or Illinois.
VINCENNES.
Francois Morgan de Vinsenne served in Canada as early as 1720
in the regiment of " De Carrignan " of the French service, and
again on the lakes in the vicinity of Sault Ste. Marie in the same
service under M. de Vaudriel, in 1725. It is possible that his ad-
vent to Vincennes may have taken place in 1732; and in proof of
this the only record is an act of sale under the joint names of him-
self and Madame Vinsenne, the daughter of M. Philip Longprie,
and dated Jan. 5, 1735. This document gives his military position
as commandant of the post of Ouabache in the service of the French
King. The will of Longprie, dated March 10, same year, bequeaths
him, among other things, 40S pounds of pork, which he ordered to
be kept safe until Vinsenne, who was then at Ouabache, returned
to Kaskaskia.
There are many other documents connected with its early settle-
ment by Vinsenne, among which is a receipt for the 100 pistoles
granted him as his wife's marriage dowry. In 1736 this officer was
ordered to Charlevoix by D'Artagette, viceroy of the King at New
Orleans, and commandant of Illinois. Here M. St. Vinsenne re-
ceived his mortal wounds. The event is chronicled as follows, in
the words of D'Artagette: " We have just received very bad news
from Louisiana, and our war with the Chickasaws. The French
have been defeated. Among the slain is M. de Vinsenne, who
ceased not until his last breath to exhort his men to behave worthy
of their faith and fatherland."
Thus closed the career of this gallant officer, leaving a name
which holds as a remembrancer the present beautiful town of Vin-
cennes, changed from Vinsenne to its present orthography in 1749.
Post Vincennes was settled as early as 1710 or 1711. In a letter
from Father Marest to Father Germon, dated at Kaskaskia, Nov. 9,
1712, occurs this passage: "Zes Francois itoient itabli unfort sur
40 HISTORY OF INDIANA.
lefleuveOuabache; Us demanderent un missionaire ; et le Pere
Mermet leurfut envoye. Ce Pere crut devoir travailler a la
conversion des Mascoutens qui avoieut fait tin village sur les
bords dumeme Jleuve. C'est tine nation Indians qui entend la
langue Illinoise." Translated: " The French have established a
fort upon the river Wabash, and want a missionary, and Father
Mermet has been sent to them. That Father believes he should
labor for the conversion of the Mascoutens, who have built a vil-
lage on the banks of the same river. They are a nation of Indians
who understand the language of the Illinois."
Mermet was therefore the first preacher of Christianity in this
part of the world, and his mission was to convert the Mascoutens,
a branch of the Miamis. "The way I took," says he, " was to con-
found, in the presence of the whole tribe, one of these charlatans
[medicine men], whose Manitou, or great spirit which he wor-
shiped, was the buffalo. After leading him on insensibly to the
avowal that it was not the buffalo that he worshiped, but the Man-
itou, or spirit, of the buffalo, which was under the earth and ani-
mated all buffaloes, which heals the sick and has all power, I asked
him whether other beasts, the bear for instance, and which one of
his nation worshiped, was not equally inhabited by a Manitou,
which was under the earth. 'Without doubt,' said the grand medi-
cine man. ' If this is so,' said I, ' men ought to have a Manitou
who inhabits them.' ' Nothing more certain,' said he. ' Ought
not that to convince you,' continued I, ' that you are not very
reasonable? For if man upon the earth is the master of all animals,
if he kills them, if he eats them, does it not follow that the Mani-
tou which inhabits him must have a mastery over all other Mani-
tous? "Why then do you not invoke him instead of the Manitou
of the bear and the buffalo, when you are sick?' This reasoning
disconcerted the charlatan. But this was all the effect it
produced."
The result of convincing these heathen by logic, as is generally
the case the world over, was only a temporary logical victory, and
no change whatever was produced in the professions and practices
of the Indians.
But the first Christian (Catholic) missionary at this place whose
name we find recorded in the Church annals, was Meurin, in 1S49.
The church building used by these early missionaries at Vin-
cennes is thus described by the " oldest inhabitants:" Fronting on
Water street and running back on Church street, it was a plain
HISTORY OF INDIANA. 41
building with a rough exterior, of upright posts, chinked and
daubed, with a rough coat of cement on the outside; about 20 feet
wide and GO long; one story high, with a small belfiw and an equally
small bell. It was dedicated to St. Francis Xavier. This spot is
now occupied by a splendid cathedral.
Vincennes has ever been a stronghold of Catholicism. The
Church there has educated and sent out many clergymen of her
faith, some of whom have become bishops, or attained other high
positions in ecclesiastical authority.
Almost contemporaneous with the progress of the Church at
Vincennes was a missionary work near the mouth of the Wea river,
among the Ouiatenons, but the settlement there was broken up in
early day.
NATIONAL POLICIES.
THE GREAT FRENCH SCHEME.
Soon after the discovery of the mouth of the Mississippi by La-
Salle in 1682, the government of France began to encourage ths
policy of establishing a line of trading posts and missionary
stations extending through the West from Canada to Louisiana,
and this policy was maintained, with partial success, for about 75
years. The traders persisted in importing whisky, which cancelled
nearly every civilizing influence that could be brought to bear upon
the Indian, and the vast distances between posts prevented that
strength which can be enjoyed only by close and convenient inter-
communication. Another characteristic of Indian nature was to
listen attentively to all the missionary said, pretending to believe
all he preached, and then offer in turn his theory of the world, of
religion, etc., and because he was not listened to with the same
degree of attention and pretense of belief, would go off disgusted.
This was his idea of the golden rule.
The river St. Joseph of Lake Michigan was called " the river
Miamis" in 1679, in which year LaSalle built a small fort on its
bank, near the lake shore. The principal station of the mission
for the instruction of the Miamis was established on the borders of
this river. The first French post within the territory of the
Miamis was at the mouth of the river Miamis, on an eminence
naturally fortified on two sides by the river, and on one side by a
42 HISTORY OF INDIANA.
deep ditch made by a fall of water. It was of triangular form.
The missionary Hennepin gives a good description of it, as he was
one of the company who built it, in 1679. Says he: " We fell the
trees that were on the top of the hill; and having cleared the same
from bushes for about two musket shot, we began to build a
redoubt of 80 feet long and 40 feet broad, with great square pieces
of timber laid one upon another, and prepared a great number of
stakes of about 25 feet long to drive into the ground, to make our
fort more inaccessible on the riverside. We employed the whole
month of November about that work, which was very hard, though
we had no other food but the bear's flesh our savage killed. These
beasts are very common in that place because of the great quantity
of grapes they find there; but their flesh being too fat and luscious,
our men began to be weary of it and desired leave to go a hunting
to kill some wild goats. M. LaSalle denied them that liberty,
which caused some murmurs among them; and it was but unwill-
ingly that they continued their work. This, together with the
approach of winter and the apprehension that M. LaSalle had that
hL vessel (the Griffin) was lost, made him very melancholy, though
he concealed it as much as he could. We made a cabin wherein
we performed divine service every Sunday, and Father Gabriel and
I, who preached alternately, took care to take such texts as were
suitable to our present circumstances and fit to inspire us witli
courage, concord and brotherly love. * * * The fort was at
last perfected, and called Fort Miamis."
In the year 1711 the missionary Chardon, who was said to be
very zealous and apt in the acquisition of languages, had a station
on the St. Joseph about 60 miles above the mouth. Charlevoix,
another distinguished missionary from France, visited a post on
this river in 1721. In a letter dated at the place, Aug. 16, he says:
" There is a commandant here, with a small garrison. His house,
which is but a very sorry one, is called the fort, from its being sur-
rounded with an indifferent palisado, which is pretty near the case
in all the rest. We have here two villages of Indians, one of the
Miamis and the other of the Pottawatomies, both of them mostly
Christians; but as they have been for a long time without any pas-
tors, the missionary who has been lately sent to them will have no
small difficulty in bringing them back to the exercise of their re<
ligion." He speaks also of the main commodity for which the In.
dians would part with their goods, namely, spirituous liquors,
which they drink and keep drunk upon as long as a supply lasted.
INDIANS ATTACKING FEONTIEKSilEN.
HIST0KY OF INDIANA. 45
More than a century and a half has now passed since Charlevoix
penned the above, without any change whatever in this trait of In-
dian character.
In 1765 the Miami nation, or confederacy, was composed of four
tribes, whose total number of warriors was estimated at only 1,050
men. Of these about 250 were Twightwees, or Miamis proper,
300 Weas, or Ouiatenons,300 Piankeshawsand 200 Shockeys; and
at this time the principal villages of the Twightwees were situated
about the head of the Maumee river at and near the place where
Fort Wayne now is. The larger Wea villages were near the banks
of the Wabash river, in the vicinity of the Post Ouiatenon; and
the Shockeys and Piankeshaws dwelt on the banks of the' Vermil-
lion and on the borders of the Wabash between Vincennes and
Ouiatenon. Branches of the Pottawatomie, Shawnee, Delaware and
Kickapoo tribes were permitted at different times to enter within
the boundaries of the Miamis and reside for a while.
The wars in which France and England were engaged, from 16S8
to 1697, retarded the growth of the colonies of those nations in
North America, and the efforts made by France to connect Canada
and the Gulf of Mexico by a chain of trading posts and colonies
naturally excited the jealousy of England and gradually laid the
foundation for a struggle at arms. After several stations were estab-
lished elsewhere in the West, trading posts were started at the
Miami villages, which stood at the head of the Maumee, at the Wea
villages about Ouiatenon on the Wabash, and at the Piankeshaw vil-
lages about the present sight of Vincennes. It is probable that before
the close of the year 1719, temporary trading posts were erected at the
sites of Fort Wayne, Ouiatenon and Vincennes. These points were
probably often visited by French fur traders prior to 1700. In the
meanwhile the English people in this country commenced also to
establish military posts west of the Alleghanies, and thus matters
went on until they naturally culminated in a general war, which,
being waged by the French and Indians combined on one side, was
called " the French and Indian war." This war was terminated in
1763 by a treaty at Paris, by which France ceded to Great Britain
all of North America east of the Mississippi except New Orleans
and the island on which it is situated; and indeed, France had the
preceding autumn, by a secret convention, ceded to Spain all the
country west of that river.
46 HISTORY OF INDIANA.
PONTIAC *S WAR.
In 1762, after Canada and its dependencies Lad been surrendered
to the English, Pontiac and his partisans secretly organized a pow-
erful confederacy in order to crush at one blow all English power
in the West. This great scheme was skillfully projected and cau-
tiously matured.
The principal act in the programme was to gain admittance into
the fort at Detroit, on pretense of a friendly visit, with short-
ened muskets concealed under their blankets, and on a given signal
suddenly break forth upon the garrison; but an inadvertent remark
of an Indian woman led to a discovery of the plot, which was con-
sequently averted. Pontiac and his warriors afterward made many
attacks upon the English, some of which were successful, but the
Indians were finally defeated in the general war.
BRITISH POLICY.
In 1765 the total number of French families within the limits of
the Northwestern Territory did not probably exceed 600. These
were in settlements about Detroit, along the river Wabash and the
neighborhood of Fort Chartres on the Mississippi. Of these fami-
lies, about 80 or 90 resided at Post Vincennes, 14 at Fort Ouiate-
non, on the Wabash, and nine or ten at the confluence of the St.
Mary and St. Joseph rivers.
The colonial policy of the British government opposed any meas-
ures which might strengthen settlements in the interior of this
country, lest they become self-supporting and independent of the
mother country; hence the earl)- and rapid settlement of the North-
western territory was still further retarded by the short-sighted
selfishness of England. That fatal policy consisted mainly in hold-
ing the land in the hands of the government and not allowing it to
be subdivided and sold to settlers. But in spite of all her efforts
in this direction, she constantly made just such efforts as provoked
the American people to rebel, and to rebel successfully, which was
within 15 years after the perfect close of the French and Indian
war.
AMERICAN POLICY.
Thomas Jefferson, the shrewd statesman and wise Governor of
Virginia, saw from the first that actual occupation of "Western lands
was the only way to keep them out of the hands of foreigners and
HISTORY OF INDIANA. 47
Indians. Therefore, directly after the conquest of Vincennes by-
Clark, he engaged a scientific corps to proceed under an escort to
the Mississippi, and ascertain by celestial observations the point
on that river intersected by latitude 36° 30', the southern limit of
the State, and to measure its distance to the Ohio. To Gen. Clark
was entrusted the conduct of the military operations in that quar-
ter. He was instructed to select a strong position near that point
and establish there a fort and garrison ; thence to extend his conquests
northward to the lakes, erecting forts at different points, which
might serve as monuments of actual possession, besides affording
protection to that portion of the country. Fort " Jefferson " was
erected and garrisoned on the Mississippi a few miles above the
southern limit.
The result of these operations was the addition, to the chartered
limits of Virginia, of that immense region known as the " North-
western Territory." The simple fact that such and such forts were
established by the Americans in this vast region convinced the Brit-
ish Commissioners that we had entitled ourselves to the land. But
where are those " monuments " of our power now?
INDIAN SAVAGERY.
As a striking example of the inhuman treatment which the early
Indians were capable of giving white people, we quote the follow
ing blood-curdling story from Mr. Cox' " Recollections of the
Wabash Valley":
On the 11th of February, 17S1, a wagoner named Irvin Ilinton
was sent from the block-house at Louisville, Ky., to Iiarrodsburg
for a load of provisions for the fort. Two young men, Richard
Rue and George Holman, aged respectively 19 and 16 years, were
sent as guards to protect the wagon from the depredations of any
hostile Indians who might be lurking in the cane-brakes or ravines
through which they must pass. Soon after their start a severe
snow-storm set in which lasted until afternoon. Lest the melting
snow might dampen the powder in their rifles, the guards fired
them off, intending to reload them as soon as the storm ceased.
Ilinton drove the horses while Rue walked a few rods ahead and
Holman about the same distance behind. As they ascended a hill
about eight miles from Louisville Hinton heard someone say "Whoa
to the horses. Supposing that something was wrong about the
wagon, he stopped and asked Holman why he had called him to
halt. Holman said that he had not spoken; Rue also denied it,
48 HISTORY OF INDIANA.
but said that he had heard the voice distinctly. At this time a voice
cried out, " I will solve the mystery for you ; it was Simon Girty that
cried "Whoa, and he meant what he said," — at the same time emerg-
ing from a sink-hole a few rods from the roadside, followed by 13
Indians, who immediately surrounded the three Kentuckians and
demanded them to surrender or die instantly. The little party,
making a virtue of necessity, surrendered to this renegade white
man and his Indian allies.
Being so near two forts, Girty made all possible speed in making
fast his prisoners, selecting the lines and other parts of the harness,
he prepared for an immediate flight across the Ohio. The panta-
loons of the prisoners were cut off about four inches above the
knees, and thus they started through the deep snow as fast as the
horses could trot, leaving the wagon, containing a few empty bar-
rels, standing in the road. They continued their march for sev-
eral cold days, without fire at night, until they reached "Wa-puc-ca-
nat-ta, where they compelled their prisoners to run the gauntlet as
they entered the village. Hinton first ran the gauntlet and reached
the council-house after receiving several severe blows upon the head
and shoulders. Rue next ran between the lines, pursued by an
Indian with an uplifted tomahawk. He far outstripped his pursuer
and dodged most of the blows aimed at him. Holman complaining
that it was too severe a test for a worn-out stripling like himselt,
was allowed to run between two lines of squaws and bojs, and was
followed by an Indian with a long switch.
The first council of the Indians did not dispose of these young
men; they were waiting for the presence of other chiefs and war-
riors. Hinton escaped, but on the afternoon of the second day he
was re-captured. Now the Indians were glad that they had an
occasion to indulge in the infernal joy of burning him at once.
Soon after their supper, which they shared with their victim, they
drove the stake into the ground, piled np the fagots in a circle
around it, stripped and blackened the prisoner, tied him to the
stake, and applied the torch. It was a slow fire. The war-whoop
then thrilled through the dark surrounding forest like the chorus
of a band of infernal spirits escaped from pandemonium, and the
6calp dance was struck up by those demons in human shape, who
for hours encircled their victim, brandishing their tomahawks and
war clubs, and venting their execrations upon the helpless sufferer,
who died about midnight from the effects of the slow heat. As
soon as he fell upon the ground, the Indian who first discovered
HISTORY OF INDIANA. 49
him in the woods that evening sprang in, sunk his tomahawk into
his skull above the ear, and with bis knife stripped off the scalp,
which he bore back with him to the town as a trophy, and which
was tauntingly thrust into the faces of Rue and Ilolman, with the
question, " Can you smell the fire on the scalp of your red-headed
friend? We cooked him and left him for the wolves to make a
breakfast upon; that is the way we serve runaway prisoners."
After a march of three days more, the prisoners, Rue and Hol-
man, had to run the gauntlets again, and barely got through with
their lives. It was decided that they should both be burned at the
stake that night, though this decision was far from being unani-
mous. The necessary preparations were made, dry sticks and
brush were gathered and piled around two stakes, the faces
and hands of the doomed men were blackened in the customary
manner, and as the evening approached the poor wretches sat look-
ing upon the setting sun for the last time. An unusual excitement
was manifest in a number of chiefs who still lingered about the
council-house. At a pause in the contention, a noble-looking In-
dian approached the prisoners, and after speaking a few words to
the guards, took Ilolman by the hand, lifted him to his feet, cut the
cords that bound him to his fellow prisoners, removed the black from
his face and hands, put his hand kindly upon his head and said: " I
adopt you as my son, to fill the place of the one I have lately buried;
you are now a kinsman of Logan, the white man's friend, as he has
been called, but who has lately proven himself to be a terrible
avenger of the wrongs inflicted upon him by the bloody Cresap and
his men." With evident reluctance, Girty interpreted this to Hol-
man, who was thus unexpectedly freed.
But the preparations for the burning of Rue went on. Ilolman
and Rue embraced each other most affectionately, with a sorrow too
deep for description. Rue was then tied to one of the stakes; but
the general contention among the Indians had not ceased. Just as
the lighted fagots were about to be applied to the dry brush piled
around the devoted youth, a tall, active young Shawnee, a son of
the victim's captor, sprang into the ring, and cutting the cords
which bound him to the stake, led him out amidst the deafening
plaudits of a part of the crowd and the execrations of the rest. Re-
gardless of threats, he caused water to be brought and the black to
be washed from the face and hands of the prisoner, whose clothes
were then returned to him, when the young brave said: " I take
this young man to be my brother, in the place of one I lately lost;
50 HISTORY OF INDIANA.
I loved that brother well; I will love this one, too; my old mother
will be glad when I tell her that I have brought her a son, in place
of the dear departed one. We want no more victims. The burning
of Red-head [Hinton] ought to satisfy us. These innocent young
men do not merit such cruel fate; I would rather die myself than
see this adopted brother burned at the stake."
A loud shout of approbation showed that the young Shawnee had
triumphed, though dissension was manifest among the various
tribes afterward. Some of them abandoned their trip to Detroit,
others returded to Wa-puc-ca-nat-ta, a few turned toward the Mis-
sissinewa and the Wabash towns, while a portion continued to De-
troit. Holman was taken back to Wa-puc-ca-nat ta, where he re-
mained most of the time of his captivity. Rue was taken first to
the Mississinewa, then to the Wabash towns. Two years of his
eventful captivity were spent in the region of the Wabash and Illi-
nois rivers, but the last few months at Detroit; was in captivity
altogether about three years and a half.
Rue effected his escape in the following manner: During one of
the drunken revels of the Indians near Detroit one of them lost a
purse of $90; various tribes were suspected of feloniously keeping
the treasure, and much ugly speculation was indulged in as to who
was the thief. At length a prophet of a tribe that was not suspected
was called to divine the mystery. He spread sand over a green
deer-skin, watched it awhile and performed various manipulations,
and professed to see that the money had been stolen and carried
away by a tribe entirely different from any that had been
suspicioned; but he was shrewd enough not to announce who the
thief was or the tribe he belonged to, lest a war might arise. His
decision quieted the belligerent uprisings threatened by the excited
Indians.
Rue and two other prisoners saw this display of the prophet's
skill and concluded to interrogate him soon concerning their fami-
lies at home. The opportunity occurred in a few days, and the In-
dian seer actually astonished Rue with the accuracy with which he
described his family, and added, " You all intend to make your
escape, and you will effect it soon. You will meet with man}' trials
and hardships in passing over so wild a district of country, inhabited
by so many hostile nations of Indians. You will almost starve to
death; but about the time yo'u have given up all hope of finding
game to sustain you in your famished condition, succor will come
when you least expect it. The first game you will succeed in taking
HISTOET OF INDIANA. 51
will be a male of some kind ; after that you will have plenty of
game and return home in safety."
The prophet kept this matter a secret for the prisoners, and the
latter in a few days set off upon their terrible journey, and had
just such experience as the Indian prophet had foretold; they
arrived home, with their lives, but were pretty well worn out with the
exposures and privations of a three weeks' journey.
On the return of Holman's party of Indians to Wa-puc-ca-nat-ta,
much dissatisfaction existed in regard to the manner of his release
from the sentence of condemnation pronounced against him by the
council. Many were in favor of recalling the council and trying
him again, and this was finally agreed to. The young man was
again put upon trial for his life, with a strong probability of his
being condemned to the stake. Both parties worked hard for vic-
tory in the final vote, which eventually proved to give a majority of
one for the prisoner's acquittal.
While with the Indians, Hoi man saw them burn at the stake a
Kentuckian named Richard Hogeland, who had been taken prisoner
at the defeat of Col. Crawford. They commenced burning him at
nine o'clock at night, and continued roasting him until ten o'clock
the next day, before he expired. During his excruciating tortures he
begged for some of them to end his life and sufferings with a gun
or tomahawk. Finally his cruel tormentors promised they would,
and cut several deep gashes in his flesh with their tomahawks, and
shoveled up hot ashes and embers and threw them into the gaping
wounds. When he was dead they stripped off his scalp, cut him
to pieces and burnt him to ashes, which they scattered through the
town to expel the evil spirits from it.
After a captivity of about three years and a half, Holman saw an
opportunity of going on amission for the destitute Indians, namely,
of going to Harrodsburg, Ky., where he had a rich uncle, from
whom they could get wbat supplies they wanted. They let him go
with a guard, but on arriving at Louisville, where Gen. Clark was
in command, he was ransomed, and he reached home only three
days after the arrival of Rue. Both these men lived to a good old
age, terminating their lives at their home about two miles south of
Richmond, Ind.
EXPEDITIONS OF COL. GEOEGE EOGEES CLAEE.
In the summer of 1778, Col. George Eogers Clark, a native of
Albemarle county, Va., led a memorable expedition against the
ancient French settlements about Easkaskia and Post Vincennes.
"With respect to the magnitude of its design, the valor and perse-
verance with which it was carried on, and the memorable results
which were produced by it, this expedition stands without a parallel -
in the early annals of the valley of the Mississippi. That portion
of the West called Kentucky was occupied by Henderson & Co.,
who pretended to own the land and who held it at a high price.
Col. Clark wished to test the validity of their claim and adjust the
government of the country so as to encourage immigration. He
accordingly called a meeting of the citizens at Harrodstown, to
assemble June 6, 1776, and consider the claims of the company and
consult with reference to the interest of the country. He did not
at first publish the exact aim of this movement, lest parties would
be formed in advance aud block the enterprise; also, if the object
of the meeting were not announced beforehand, the curiosity of the
people to know what was to be proposed would bring out a much
greater attendance.
The meeting was held on the day appointed, and delegates were
elected to treat with the government of Virginia, to see whether
it would be best to become a county in that State and be protected
by it, etc. Various delays on account of the remoteness of the
white settlers from the older communities of Virginia and the hos-
tility of Indians in every direction, prevented a consummation of
this object until some time in 177S. The government of Virginia
was friendly to Clark's enterprise to a certain extent, but claimed
that they had not authority to do much more than to lend a little
assistance for which payment should be made at some future time,
as it was not certain whether Kentucky would become a part of Vir-
ginia or not. Gov. Henry and a few gentlemen were individually
so hearty in favor of Clark's benevolent undertaking that they
assisted him all they could. Accordingly Mr. Clark organized his
expedition, keeping every particular secret lest powerful parties
would form in the West against him. He took in stores at Pitts-
(53)
GEN. GEORGE ROGERS CLARK
HISTORY OF INDIANA. 55
burg and "Wheeling, proceeded down the Ohio to the " Falls,"
where he took possession of an island of a about seven acres, and
divided it among a small number of families, for whose protection
he constructed some light fortifications. At this time Post Vin-
cennes comprised about 400 militia, and it was a daring undertak-
ing for Col. Clark, with his small force, to go up against it and Kas-
kaskia, as he had planned. Indeed, some of his men, on hearing of
his plan, deserted him. He conducted himself so as to gain the
sympathy of the French, and through them also that of the
Indians to some extent, as both these people were very bitter
against the British, who had possession of the Lake Region.
From the nature of the situation Clark concluded it was best to
take Kaskaskia first. The fact that the people (regarded him as a
savage rebel, he regarded as really a good thing in his favor; for
after the first victory he would show them so much unexpected
lenity that they would rally to his standard. In this policy he was
indeed successful. He arrested a few men and put them in irons.
The priest of the village, accompanied by five or six aged citizens,
waited on Clark and said that the inhabitants expected to be separ-
ated, perhaps never to meet again, and they begged to be permitted
to assemble in their church to take leave of each other. Clark
mildly replied that he had nothing against their religion, that they
might continue to assemble in their church, but not venture out of
town, etc. Thus, by what has since been termed the "Rarey"
method of taming horses, Clark showed them he had power over
them but designed them no harm, and they readily took the oath
of allegiance to Virginia.
After Clark's arrival at Kaskaskia it was difficult to induce the
French settlers to accept the "Continental paper" introduced by
him and his troops. Nor until Col. Vigo arrived there and guar-
anteed its redemption would they receive it. Peltries and piastres
formed the only currency, and Vigo found great difficulty in ex-
plaining Clark's financial arrangements. "Their .commandants
never made money," was the reply to Vigo's explanation of the
policy of the old Dominion. But notwithstanding the guarantees,
the Continental paper fell very low in the market. Vigo had a
trading establishment at Kaskaskia, where he sold coffee at one
dollar a pound, and all the other necessaries of life at an equally
reasonable price. The unsophisticated Frenchmen were generally
asked in what kind of money they woidd pay their little bills.
56 HISTORY OF INDIANA.
"Douleur," was the general reply; and as an authority on the sub-
ject says, "It took about twenty Continental dollars to purchase a
silver dollar's worth of coffee; and as the French word "douleur" sig-
nifies grief or pain, perhaps no word either in the French or Eng-
lish languages expressed the idea more correctly than the douleur
for a Continental dollar. At any rate it was truly douleur to the
Colonel, for he never received a single dollar in exchange for the
large amount taken from him in order to sustain Clark's credit.
Now, the post at Vincennes, defended by Fort Sackville, came
next. The priest just mentioned, Mr. Gibault, was really friendly
to " the American interest;" he had spiritual charge of the church
at Vincennes, and he with several others were deputed to assemble
the people there and authorize them to garrison their own fort like
a free and independent people, etc. This plan had its desired effect,
and the people took the oath of allegiance to the State of Virginia
and became citizens of the United States. Their style of language
and conduct changed to a better hue, and they surprised the numer-
ous Indians in the vicinity by displaying anew flag and informing
them that their old father, the King of France, was come to life
again, and was mad at them for fighting the English; and they ad-
vised them to make peace with the Americans as soon as they
could, otherwise they might expect to make the land very bloodj^,
etc. The Indians concluded they would have to fall in line, and
they offered no resistance. Capt. Leonard Helm, an American,
was left in charge of this post, and Clark began to turn his atten-
tion to other points. But before leaving this section of the coun-
try he made treaties of peace with the Indians; this he did, how-
ever, by a different method from what had always before been
followed. By indirect methods he caused them to come to him,
instead of going to them. He was convinced that inviting them to
treaties was considered by them in a different manner from what
the whites expected, and imputed them to fear, and that giving
them great presents confirmed it. He accordingly established
treaties with the Piankeshaws, Ouiatenons, Kickapoos, Illinois,
Kaskaskias, Peorias and branches of some other tribes that inhab-
ited the country between Lake Michigan and the Mississippi.
Upon this the General Assembly of the State of Virginia declared
all the citizens settled west of the Ohio organized into a county of
that State, to be known as " Illinois " county; but before the pro-
visions of the law could be carried into effect, Henry Hamilton, the
British Lieutenant-Governor of Detroit, collected an army of about
HISTORY OF INDIANA. Oi
30 regulars, 50 French volunteers and 400 Indians, went down and
re-took the post Vincennes in December, 1778. No attempt was
made by the population to defend the town. Capt. Helm and a
man named Henry were the only Americans at the fort, the only
members of the garrison. Capt. Helm was taken prisoner and a
number of the French inhabitants disarmed.
Col. Clark, hearing of the situation, determined to re-capture the
place. He accordingly gathered together what force he could in
this distant land, 170 men, and on the 5th of February, btarted from
Kaskaskia and crossed the river of that name. The weather was
very wet, and the low lands were pretty well covered with water.
The march was difficult, and the Colonel bad to workhard to keep
his men in spirits. He suffered them to shoot game whenever they
wished and eat it like Indian war-dancers, each company by turns
inviting the others to their feasts, which was the case every night.
Clark waded through water as much as any of them, and thus stimu-
lated the men by his example. They readied the Little "Wabash
on the 13th, after suffering many and great hardships. Here a camp
was formed, and without waiting to discuss plans for crossing the
river, Clark ordered the men to construct a vessel, and pretended
that crossing the stream would be only a piece of amusement, al-
though inwardly he held a different opinion.
The second day afterward a reconnoitering party was sent across
the river, who returned and made an encouraging report. A scaf-
folding was built on the opposite shore, upon which the baggage
was placed as it was tediously ferried over, and the new camping
ground was a nice half acre of dry land. There were many amuse-
ments, indeed, in getting across the river, which put all the men in
high spirits. The succeeding two or three days they had to march
through a great deal of water, having on the night of the 17th to
encamp in the water, near the Big Wabash.
At daybreak on the ISth they heard the signal gun at Vincennes,
and at once commenced their march. Reaching the Wabash about
two o'clock, they constructed rafts to cross the river on a boat-steal-
ing expedition, but labored all day and night to no purpose. On
the 19th they began to make a canoe, in which a second attempt to
steal boats was made, but this expedition returned, reporting that
there were two "large fires" within a mile of them. Clark sent a
canoe down the river to meet the vessel that was supposed to be on
her way up with the supplies, with orders to hasten forward day and
night. This was their last hope, as their provisions were entirely
58 HISTORT OF INDIANA.
gone, and starvation seemed to be hovering about them. The next
day they commenced to make more canoes, when about noon the
sentinel on the river brought a boat with five Frenchmen from the
fort. From this party they learned that they were not as yet dis-
covered. All the army crossed the fiver in two canoes the next
day, and as Clark had determined to reach the town that night, he
ordered his men to move forward. They plunged into the water
sometimes to the neck, for over three miles.
Without food, benumbed with cold, up to their waists in water,
covered with broken ice, the men at onetime mutinied and refused
to march. All the persuasions of Clark had no effect upon the
half-starved and half-frozen soldiers. In one company was a small
drummer boy, and also a sergeant who stood six feet two inches in
socks, and stout and athletic. He was devoted to Clark. The Gen-
eral mounted the little drummer on the shoulders of the stalwart
sergeant and ordered him to plunge into the water, half-frozen as it
was. He did so, the little boy beating the charge from his lofty
perch, while Clark, sword in hand, followed them, giving the com-
mand as he threw aside the floating ice, " Forward." Elated and
amused with the scene, the men promptly obeyed, holding their
rifles above their heads, and in spite of all the obstacles they reached
the high land in perfect safety. But for this and the ensuing days
of this campaign we quote from Clark's account:
"This last day's march through the water was far superior to any-
thing the Frenchmen had any idea of. They were backward in
speaking; said that the nearest land to us was a small league, a
sugar camp on the bank of the river. A canoe was sent off and re-
turned without finding that we could pass. I went in her myself
and sounded the water and found it as deep as to my neck. I returned
with a design to have the men transported on board the canoes to
the sugar camp, which I knew would expend the whole day and en-
suing night, as the vessels would pass slowly through the bushes.
The loss of so much time to men half starved was a matter of con-
sequence. I would have given now a great deal for a day's provis-
ion, or for one of our horses. I returned but slowly to the troops,
giving myself time to think. On our arrival all ran to hear what
was the report; every eye was fixed on me; I unfortunately spoke
in a serious manner to one of the officers. The whole were alarmed
without knowing what I said. I viewed their confusion for about
one minute; I whispered to those near me to do as I did, immedi-
ately put some water in my hand, poured on powder, blackened my
HISTORY OF INDIANA. 59
face, gave the war-whoop, and marched into the water without say-
ing a word. The party gazed and fell in, one after another without
saying a word, like a flock of sheep. I ordered those near me to
begin a favorite song of theirs; it soon passed through the line, and
the whole went on cheerfully.
" I now intended to have them transported across the deepest
part of the water; but when about waist-deep, one of the men in-
formed me that he thought he felt a path; we examined and found
it so, and concluded that it kept on the highest ground, which it did,
and by taking pains to follow it, we got to the sugar camp with no
difficulty, where there was about half an acre of dry ground, — at
least ground not under water, and there we took up our lodging.
******
" The night had been colder than any we had had, and the ice in
the morning was one-half or three-quarters of an inch thick in still
water; the morning was the finest. A little after sunrise I lectured
the whole; what I said to them I forget, but I concluded by in-
forming them that passing the plain then in full view, and
reaching the opposite woods would put an end to their fatigue;
that in a few hours they would have a sight of their long wished-for
object; and immediately stepped into the water without waiting
for any reply. A huzza took place. As we generally marched
through the water in a line, before the third man entered, I called to
Major Bowman, ordering him to fall in the rear of the 25 men, and
put to death any man who refused to march. This met with a cry
of approbation, and on we went. Getting about the middle of the
plain, the water about mid-deep, I found myself sensibly failing;
and as there were no trees nor bushes for the men to support them-
selves by, I feared that many of the weak would be drowned. I or-
dered the canoes to make the land, discharge their loading, and play
backward and forward with all diligence and pick up the men ; and
to encourage the party, sent some of the strongest men forward,
with orders when they got to a certain distance, to pass the word
back that the water was getting shallow, and when getting near the
woods, to cry out land. This stratagem had its desired effect; the
men exerted themselves almost beyond their abilities, the weak
holding by the stronger. The water, however, did not become
shallower, but continued deepening. Getting to the woods where
the men expected land, the water was up to my shoulders; but
gaining the woods was of great consequence; all the low men and
weakly huDg to the trees and floated on the old logs until they were
60 HISTORY OF INDIANA.
taken off by the canoes; the strong and tall got ashore and built
fires. Many would reach the shore and fall with their bodies half
in the water, not being able to support themselves without it.
" This was a dry and delightful spot of ground of about ten acres.
Fortunately, as if designed by Providence, a canoe of Indian squaws
and children was coming up to town, and took through'this part of
the plain as a nigh way; it was discovered by our canoe-men as they
were out after the other men. They gave chase and took the Indian
canoe, on board of which was nearly half a quarter of buffalo, some
corn, tallow, kettles, etc. This was an invaluable prize. Broth was
immediately made and served out, especially to the weakly; nearly
all of us got a little; but a great many gave their part to the
weakly, saying something cheering to their comrades. By the
afternoon, this refreshment and fine weather had greatly invigor-
ated the whole part}-.
" Crossing a narrow and deep lake in the canoes, and marching
some distance, we came to a copse of timber called ' Warrior's
Island.' We were now in full view of the fort and town; it was
about two miles distant, with not a shrub intervening. Everyman
now feasted his eyes and forgot that he had suffered anything, say-
ing that all which had passed was owing to good policy, and noth-
ing but what a man could bear, and that a soldier had no right to
think, passing from one extreme to the other, — which is common in
such cases. And now stratagem was necessary. The plain between
us and the town was not a perfect level; the sunken grounds were
covered with water full of ducks. We observed several men within
a half a mile of us shooting ducks, and sent out some of our active
young Frenchmen to take one of these men prisoners without
alarming the rest, which they did. The information we got from
this person was similar to that which we got from those taken on the
river, except that of the British having that evening completed the
wall of the fort, and that there were a great many Indians in town.
"Our situation was now critical. No possibility of retreat in
case of defeat, and in full view of a town containing at this time
more than 600 men, troops, inhabitants and Indians. The crew of the
galley, though not 50 men, would have been now a re-enforcement
of immense magnitude to our little army, if I may so call it, but
we would not think of them. We were now in the situation that I
had labored to get ourselves in. The idea of being made prisoner
was foreign to almost every man, as they expected nothing but tor-
ture from the savages if they fell into their hands. Our fate was
HISTORY OF INDIANA. 61
now to be determined, probably in a few hours; we knew that
nothing but the most daring conduct would insure success; I kuew
also that a number of the inhabitants wished us well. This was a
favorable circumstance; and as there was but little prooability of our
remaining until dark undiscovered, I determined to begin opera-
tions immediately, and therefore wrote the following placard to the
inhabitants:
To the Inhabitants of Post Ylnoennes:
Gentlemen: — Being now within two miles of your village with
my army, determined to take your fort this night, and not being
willing to surprise you, I take this method to request such of you
as are true citizens and willing to enjoy the liberty I bring you, to
remain still in your houses; and those, if any there be, that are
friends to the king, will instantly repair to the fort and join the
hair-buyer general and light like men ; and if any such as do not go
to the fort shall be discovered afterward, they may depend on
severe punishment. On the contrary, those who are true friends
to liberty may depend on being well treated; and I once more
request them to keep out of the streets; for everyone I find in
arms on my arrival I shall treat as an enemy.
[Signed] G. R. Clar'k.
" I had various ideas on the results of this letter. I knew it
could do us no damage, but that it would cause the lukewarm to
be decided, and encourage our friends and astonish our enemies.
We anxiously viewed this messenger until he entered the town, and
in a few minutes we discovered by our glasses some stir in everv
street we could penetrate, and great numbers running or riding out
into the commons, we supposed to view us, which was the case.
But what surprised us was that nothing had yet happened that had
the appearance of the garrison being alarmed,— neither gun nor
drum. We began to suppose that the information we got from our
prisoners was false, and that the enemy had already knew of us and
were prepared. A little before sunset we displayed ourselves in
full view of the town, — crowds gazing at us. We were plunging
ourselves into certain destruction or success; there was no midway
thought of. We had but little to say to our men, except inculcat-
ing an idea of the necessity of obedience, etc. We moved on
slowly in full view of the town; but as it was a point of some con-
sequence to us to make ourselves appear formidable, we, in leaving
the covert we were in, marched and counter- marched in such a
manner that we appeared numerous. Our colors were displayed to
the best advantage; and as the low plain we marched through was
62 HISTORY OF INDIANA.
not a perfect level, but had frequent risings in it, of 7 or 8
higher than the common level, which was covered with water; and
as these risings generally run in an oblique direction to the town,
we took the advantage of one df them, marching through the water
by it, which completely prevented our being numbered. "We gained
the heights back of the town. As there were as yet no hostile
appearance, we were impatient to have the cause unriddled. Lieut.
Bay ley was ordered with 14 men to march and fire on the fort;
the main body moved in a different direction and took possession
of the strongest part of the town."
Clark then sent a written order to Hamilton commanding
him to surrender immediately or he would be treated as a
murderer; Hamilton replied that he and his garrison were not
disposed to be awed into any action unworthy of British sub-
jects. After one hour more of fighting, Hamilton proposed a
truce of three days for conference, on condition that each side
cease all defensive work; Clark rejoined that he would "not
agree to any terms other than Mr. Hamilton surrendering himself
and garrison prisoners at discretion," and added that if he, Hamil-
ton, wished to talk with him he could meet him immediately at the
church with Capt. Helm. In less than an hour Clark dictated the
terms of surrender, Feb. 24, 1779. Hamilton agreed to the total
surrender because, as he there claimed in writing, he was too far
from aid from his own government, and because of the " unanimity"
of his officers in the surrender, and his "confidence in a generous
enemy."
"Of this expedition, of its results, of its importance, of the merits of
those engaged in it, of their bravery, their skill, of their prudence, of
their success, a volume would not more than suffice for the details.
Suffice it to say that in my opinion, and I have accurately and criti-
cally weighed and examined all the results produced by the con-
tests in which we were engaged during the Revolutionary war,
that for bravery, for hardships endured, for skill and consummate
tact and prudence on the part of the commander, obedience, dis-
cipline and love of country ou the part of his followers, for the
immense benefits acquired, and signal advantages obtained by it
for the whole union, it was second to no enterprise undertaken dur-
ing that struggle. I might add, second to no undertaking in an-
cient or modern warfare. The whole credit of this conquest be-
longs to two men; Gen. George Bogers Clark and Col. Francis
Vigo. And when we consider that by it the whole territory now
HISTORY OF INDIANA. 63
covered by the three great states of Indiana, Illinois and Michigan
was added to the union, and so admitted to be by the British commis-
sioners at the preliminaries to the treaty of peace in 17S3; (and but
for this very conquest, the boundaries of our territories west would
have been the Ohio instead of the Mississippi, and so acknowledged
by both our commissioners and the British at that conference;) a
territory embracing upward of 2,C00,000 people, the human, mind
is lost in the contemplation of its effects; and we can but wonder
that a force of 170 men, the whole number of Clark's troops,
should by this single action have produced such important results."
[John Law.
The next day Clark sent a detachment of 60 men up the river
Wabash to intercept some boats which were laden with provisions
and goods from Detroit. This force was placed under command of
Capt. Helm, Major Bosseron and Major Legras, and they proceeded
up the river, in three armed boats, about 120 miles, when the
British boats, about seven in number, were surprised and captured
without firing a gun. These boats, which had on board about
$50,000 worth of goods and provisions, were manned by about
40 men, among whom was Philip Dejean, a magistrate of Detroit,
The provisions were taken for the public, and distributed among
the soldiery.
Having organized a military government at Yincennes and
appointed Capt. Helm commandant of the town, Col. Clark return-
ed in the vessel to Kaskaskia, where he was joined by reinforce-
ments from Kentucky under Capt. George. Meanwhile, a party of
traders who were going to the falls, were killed and plundered by
the Delawares of "White River; the news of this disaster having
reached Clark, he sent a dispatch to Capt. Helm ordering him to
make war on the Delawares and use every means in his power to
destroy them; to show no mercy to the men, but to save the
women and children. This order was executed without delay.
Their camps were attacked in every quarter where they could be
found. Many fell, and others were carried to Post Vincennes and
put to death. The surviving Delawares at once pleaded for mercy
and appeared anxious to make some atonement for their bad con-
duct. To these overtures Capt. Helm replied that Col. Clark, the
" Big Knife," had ordered the war, and that he had no power to lay
down the hatchet, but that he would suspend hostilities until a
messenger could be sent to Kaskaskia. This was done, and the
crafty Colonel, well understanding the Indian character, sent a
61 HISTORY OF INDIANA.
message to the Delawares, telling them that he would not accept
their friendship or treat with them for peace; but that if they
could get some of the neighboring tribes to become responsible for
their future conduct, he would discontinue the war and spare their
lives; otherwise they must all perish.
Accordingly a council was called of all the Indians in the neigh-
borhood, and Clark's answer was read to the assembly. After due
deliberation the Piankeshaws took on themselves to answer for the
future good conduct of the Delawares, and the " Grand Door " in a
long speech denounced their base conduct. This ended the war
with the Delawares and secured the respect of the neighboring
tribes
Ciark's attention was next turned to the British post at Detroit,
but being unable to obtain sufficient troops he abandoned the en-
terprise.
clark's ingenious ruse against the Indians.
Tradition says that when Clark captured Hamilton and his gar-
rison at Fort Sackville, he took possession of the fort and kept the
British flag flying, dressed his sentinels with the uniform of the
British soldiery, and let everything about the premises remain as
they were, so that when the Indians sympathizing with the British
arrived they would walk right into the citadel, into the jaws of
death. His success was perfect. Sullen and silent, with the scalp-
lock of his victims hanging at his girdle, and in full expectation of
his reward from Hamilton, the unwary savage, unconscious of
danger and wholly ignorant of the change that had just been effected
in his absence, passed the supposed British sentry at the gate of the
fort unmolested and unchallenged; but as soon as in, a volley from
the rifles of a platoon of Clark's men, drawn up and awaiting his
coming, pierced their hearts and sent the unconscious savage, reek-
ing with murder, to that tribunal to which he had so frequently,
by order of the hair-buyer general, sent his American captives,
from the infant in the cradle to the grandfather of the family, tot-
tering with age and infirmity. It was a just retribution, and few
men but Clark would have planned such a ruse or carried it out
successfully. It is reported that fifty Indians met this fate within
the fort; and probably Hamilton, a prisoner there, witnessed it all
SUBSEQUENT CAREER OF HAMILTON.
Henry Hamilton, who had acted as Lieutenant and Governor of
the British possessions under Sir George Carleton, was sent for-
HISTORY OF INDIANA. (55
ward, with two other prisoners of war, Dejean and LaMothe, to
Williamsburg, Va., early in June following, 1779. Proclamations,
in his own handwriting, were found, in which he had offered a
specific sum for every American scalp brought into the camp, either
by his own troops or his allies, the Indians; and from this he was
denominated the "hair-buyer General." This and much other tes-
timony of living witnesses at the time, all showed what a savage he
was. Thomas Jefferson, then Governor of Virginia, being made
aware of the inhumanity of this wretch, concluded to resort to a
little retaliation by way of closer confinement. Accordingly he
ordered that these three prisoners be put in irons, confined in a
dungeon, deprived of the use of pen, ink and paper, and be ex-
cluded from all conversation except with their keeper. Major
General Phillips, a British officer out on parole in the vicinity of
Charlottesville, where the prisoners now were, in closer confine-
ment, remonstrated, and President Washington, while approving
of Jefferson's course, requested a mitigation of the severe order,
lest the British be goaded to desperate measures.
Soon afterward Hamilton was released on parole, and he subse-
quently appeared in Canada, still acting as if he had jurisdiction
in the United States.
GIBAULT.
The faithful, self-sacrificing and patriotic services of Father
Pierre Gibault in behalf of the Americans require a special notice
of him in this connection. He was the parish priest at Vincennes,
as well as at Kaskaskia. He was, at an early period, a Jesuit mis-
sionary to the Illinois. Had it not been for the influence of this man,
Clark could not have obtained the influence of the citizens at either
place. He gave all his property, to the value of 1,500 Spanish
milled dollars, to the support of Col. Clark's troops, and never re-
ceived a single dollar in return. So far as the records inform us,
he was given 1,500 Continental paper dollars, which proved in the
end entirely valueless. He modestly petitioned from the Govern-
ment a small allowance of land at Cahokia, but we find no account
of his ever receiving it. He was dependent upon the public in his
older days, and in 1790 Winthrop Sargent "conceded" to him a lot
of about "li toises, one side to Mr. Millet, another to Mr. Vaudrsy,
and to two streets," — a vague description of land.
66 HISTORY OF INDIANA.
VIGO.
Col. Francis Vigo was born in Mondovi, in the kingdom of Sar-
dinia, in 1747. He left his parents and guardians at a very early
age, and enlisted in a Spanish regiment as a soldier. The regiment
was ordered to Havana, and a detachment of it subsequently to
New Orleans, then a Spanish post; Col. Vigo accompanied this de-
tachment. But he left the army and engaged in trading with the
Indians on the Arkansas and its tributaries. Next he settled at St.
Louis, also a Spanish post, where he became closely connected, both
in friendship and business, with the Governor of Upper Louisiana,
then residing at the same place. This friendship he enjoyed, though
he could only write his name; and we have many circumstantial
evidences that he was a man of high intelligence, honor, purity of
heart, and ability. Here he was living when Clark captured Kas-
kaskia, and was extensively engaged in trading up the Missouri.
A Spaniard by birth and allegiance, he was under no obligation
to assist the Americans. Spain was at peace with Great Britain,
and any interference by her citizens was a breach of neutrality, and
subjected an individual, especially one of the high character and
standing of Col. Vigo, to all the contumely, loss and vengeance
which British power could inflict. But Col. Vigo did not falter.
"With an innate love of liberty, an attachment to Republican prin-
ciples, and an ardent sympathy for an oppressed people struggling
for their rights, he overlooked all personal consequences, and as
soon as he learned of Clark's arrival at Kaskaskia, he crossed the
line and went to Clark and tendered him his means and influence,
both of which were joyfully accepted.
Knowing Col. Vigo's influence with the ancient inhabitants of
the country, and desirous of obtaining some information from
Vincennes, from which he had not heard for several months, Col.
Clark proposed to him that he might go to that place and learn the
actual state of affairs. Vigo went without hesitation, but on the
Embarrass river he was seized by a party of Indians, plundered of
all he possessed, and brought a prisoner before Hamilton, then in pos-
session of the post, which he had a short time previously captured,
holding Capt. Helm a prisoner of war. Being a Spanish subject,
and consequently a non-combatant, Gov. Hamilton, although he
strongly suspected the motives of the visit, dared not confine him,
but admitted him to parole, on the single condition that he
should daily report himself at the fort. But Hamilton was embar-
HISTORT OF INDIANA. 67
rassed by his detention, being besieged by the inhabitants of the
town, who loved Vigo and threatened to withdraw their support
from the garrison if lie would not release him. Father Gibault was
the chief pleader for Vigo's release. Hamilton finally yielded, on con-
dition that he, Vigo, would do no injury to the British interests on
his way to St. Louis. He went to St. Louis, sure enough, doing no
injury to British interests, but immediately returned to Kaskaskia
and reported to Clark in detail all he had learned at Vincennes,
without which knowledge Clark would have been unable to ac-
complish his famous expedition to that post with final triumph.
The redemption of this country from the British is due as much,
probably, to Col. Vigo as Col. Clark.
GOVERNMENT OF THE NORTHWEST.
Col. John Todd, Lieutenant for the county of Illinois, in the
spring of 1779 visited the old settlements at Vincennes and Kas-
kaskia, and organized temporary civil governments in nearly all the
settlements west of the Ohio. Previous to this, however, Clark
had established a military government at Kaskaskia and Vincennes,
appointed commandants in both places and taken up his headquar-
ters at the falls of the Ohio, where he could watch the operations
of the enemy and save the frontier settlements from the depreda-
tions of Indian warfare. On reaching the settlements, Col. Todd
issued a proclamation regulating the settlement of unoccupied
lands and requiring the presentation of all claims to the lands set-
tled, as the number of adventurers who would shortly overrun the
country would be serious. He also organized a Court of civil and
criminal jurisdiction at Vincennes, in the month of June, 1779.
This Court was composed of several magistrates and presided over
by Col. J. M. P. Legras, who had been appointed commandant at
Vincennes. Acting from the precedents established by the early
French commandants in the West, this Court began to grant tracts
of land to the French and American inhabitants; and to the year
1783, it had granted to different parties about 26,000 acres of land;
22,000 more was granted in this manner by 17S7, when the practice
was prohibited by Gen. Harmer. These tracts varied in size from
a house lot to 500 acres. Besides this loose business, the Court
entered into a stupendous speculation, one not altogether creditable
to its honor and dignity. The commandant and the magistrates
under him suddenly adopted the opinion that they were invested
68 HISTORY OF INDIANA.
with the authority to dispose of the whole of that large region
which in 1842 had been granted b} T the Piankeshaws to the French
inhabitants of Yincennes. j Accordingly a very convenient arrange-
ment was entered into by which the whole tract of country men-
tioned was to be divided between the members of the honorable
Court. A record was made to that effect, and in order to gloss over
the steal, each member took pains to be absent from Court on the
day that the order was made in his favor.
In the fall of 1780 La Balme, a Frenchman, made an attempt to
capture the British garrison of Detroit by leading an expedition
against it from Kaskaskia. At the head of 30 men he marched to
Vincennes, where his force was slightly increased. From this
place he proceeded to the British trading post at the head of the
Maumee, where Fort Wayne now stands, plundered the British
traders and Indians and then retired. "While encamped on the
bank of a small stream on his retreat, he was attacked by a band
of Miamis, a number of his men were killed, and his expedition
against Detroit was ruined.
In this manner border war continued between Americans and
their enemies, with varying victory, until 1783, when the treaty of
Paris was concluded, resulting in the establishment of the inde-
pendence of the United States. Up to this time the territory now
included in Indiana belonged by conquest to the State of Virginia;
but in January, 17S3, the General Assembly of that State resolved
to cede to the Congress of the United States all the territory north-
west of the Ohio. The conditions offered by Virginia were
accepted by Congress Dec. 20, that year, and early in 1781 the
transfer was completed. In 1783 Virginia had platted the town of
Clarksville, at the falls of the Ohio. The deed of cession provided
that the territory should be laid out into States, containing a suita-
ble extent of territory not less than 100 nor more than 150 miles
square, or as near thereto as circumstances would permit; and that
the States so formed shall be distinct Republican States and
admitted members of the Federal Union, having the same rights of
sovereignty, freedom and independence as the other States. The
other conditions of the deed were as follows: That the necessary
and reasonable expenses incurred by Virginia in subduing any
British posts, or in maintaining forts and garrisons within and for
the defense, or in acquiring any part of the territory so ceded or
relinquished, shall be fully reimbursed by the United States; that
the French and Canadian inhabitants and other settlers of theKas-
HISTORY OF INDIANA. 69
kaskia, Post Vincennes and the neighboring villages who have pro-
fessed themselves citizens of Virginia, shall have their titles and
possessions confirmed to them, and be protected in the enjoyment
of their rights and privileges; that a quantity not exceeding 150,-
000 acres of land, promised by Virginia, shall be allowed and
granted to the then Colonel, now General, George Rogers Clark,
and to the officers and soldiers of his regiment, who marched with
him when the posts and of Kaskaskia and Vincennes were reduced,
and to the officers and soldiers that have been since incorporate*
into the said regiment, to be laid off in one tract, the length o>
which not .to exceed double the breadth, in such a place on the
northwest side of the Ohio as a majority of the officers shall
choose, and to be afterward divided among the officers and soldiers
in due proportion according to the laws of Virginia; that in case
the quantity of good lands on the southeast side of the Ohio, upon
the waters of Cumberland river, and between Green river and Ten.
nessee river, which have been reserved by law for the Virginia
troops upon Continental establishment, should, from the North
Carolina line, bearing in further upon the Cumberland lands than
was expected, prove insufficient for their legal bounties, the defi-
ciency shall be made up to the said troops in good lands to be laid
off between the rivers Scioto and Little Miami, on the northwest
side of the river Ohio, in such proportions as have been engaged
to them by the laws of Virginia; that all the lands within the ter-
ritory so ceded to the United States, and not reserved for or appro-
priated to any of the before-mentioned purposes, or disposed of in
bounties to the officers and soldiers of the American army, shall be
considered as a common fund for the use and benefit of such of the
United States as have become, or shall become, members of the
confederation or federal alliance of the said States, Virginia included,
according to their usual respective proportions in the general
charge and expenditure, and shall be faithfully and honafide dis-
posed of for that purpose and for no other use or purpose whatever.
After the above deed of cession had been accepted by Congress,
in the spring of 1784, the matter of the future government of the
territory was referred to a committee consisting of Messrs. Jeffer-
son of Virginia, Chase of Maryland and Howell of Rhode Island,
which committee reported an ordinance for its government, provid-
ing, among other things, that slavery should not exist in said terri-
tory after 1800, except as punishment of criminals; but this article
of the ordinance was rejected, and an ordinance for the temporary
70 HISTORY OF INDIANA.
government of the county was adopted. In 17S5 laws were passed
by Congress for the disposition of lands in the territory and pro-
hibiting the settlement of\ unappropriated lands by reckless specu-
lators. But human passion is ever strong enough to evade the law
to some extent, and large associations, representing considerable
means, were formed for the purpose of monopolizing the land busi-
ness. Millions of acres were sold at one time b} r Congress to asso-
ciations on the installment plan, and so far as the Indian titles
could be extinguished, the work of settling and improving the
lands was pushed rapidly forward.
ORDINANCE OF 1787.
This ordinance has a marvelous and interesting history. Con-
siderable controversy has been indulged in as to who is entitled to
the credit for framing it. This belongs, undoubtedly, to Nathan
Dane; and to Eufus King and Timothy Pickering belong the
credit for suggesting the proviso contained in it against slavery,
and also for aids to religion and knowledge, and for assuring for-
ever the common use, without charge, of the great national high-
ways of the Mississippi, the St. Lawrence and their tributaries to
all the citizens of the United States. To Thomas Jefferson is also
due much credit, as some features of this ordinance were embraced
in his ordinance of 1784. But the part taken by each in the long,
laborious and eventful struggle which had so glorious a consum-
mation in the ordinance, consecrating forever, by one imprescript-
ible and unchangeable monument, the very heart of our country to
Freedom, Knowledge, and Union, will forever honor the names ot
those illustrious statesmen.
Mr. Jefferson had vainly tried to secure a system of government
for the Northwestern territory. He was an emancipationist and
favored the exclusion of slavery from the territory, but the South
voted him down every time he proposed a measure of this nature.
In 17S7, as late as July 10, an organizing act without the anti-
slaver}' clause was pending. This concession to the South was
expected to carry it. Congress was in session in New York. On
July 5, Rev. Manasseh Cutler, of Massachusetts, came into New
York to lobby on the Northwestern territory. Everything seemed
to fall into his hands. Events were ripe. The state of the pnblic
credit, the growing of Southern prejudice, the basis of his mission,
his personal character, all combined to complete one of those sudden
HISTORY OF INDIANA. 71
and marvelous revolutions of public sentiment that once in five "or
ten centuries are seen to sweep over a country like the breath of the
Almighty.
Cutler was a graduate of Yale. He had studied and taken de-
grees in the three learned professions, medicine, law, and divinity.
He had published a scientific examination of the plants of New
England. As a scientist in America his name stood second only to
that of Franklin. He was a courtly gentleman of the old style, a
man of commanding presence and of inviting face. The Southern
members said they had never seen such a gentleman in the North,
lie came representing a Massachusetts company that desired to
purchase a tract of land, now included in Ohio, for the purpose of
planting a colony. It was a speculation. Government money was
worth eighteen cents on the dollar. This company had collected
enough to purchase 1,500,000 acres of land. Other speculators in
New York made Dr. Cutler their agent, which enabled him to-
representa demand for 5,500,000 acres. As this would reduce the
national debt, and Jefferson's policy was to provide for the public
credit, it presented a good opportunity to do something.
Massachusetts then owned the territory of Maine, which she was
crowding on the market. She was opposed to opening the North-
western region. This fired the zeal of Virginia. The South caua-ht
the inspiration, and all exalted Dr. Cutler. The entire South ral.
lied around him. Massachusetts could not vote against him, be-
cause many of the constuitents of her members were interested
personally in the "Western speculation. Thus Cutler, making
friends in the South, and doubtless using all the arts of the lobby,
was enabled to command the situation. True to deeper convic-
tions, he dictated one of the most compact and finished documents
of wise statesmanship that has ever adorned any human law book.
He borrowed from Jefferson the term "Articles of Compact," which,
preceding the federal constitution, rose into the most sacred char-
acter. He then followed very closely the constitution of Massa-
chusetts, adopted three years before. Its most prominent points
were :
1. The exclusion of slavery from the territory forever.
2. Provision for public schools, giving one township for a semi-
nary and every section numbered 16 in each township; that is, one
thirty-sixth of all the land for public schools.
3. A provision prohibiting the adoption of any constitution or
the enactment of any law that should nullify pre-existing contracts.
72 HISTORY OF INDIANA.
Be it forever remembered that this compact declared that " re-
ligion, morality, and knowledge being necessary to good govern-
ment and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of edu-
cation shall always be encouraged." Dr. Cutler planted himself
on this platform and would not yield. Giving his unqualified dec-
laration that it was that or nothing, — that unless they could make
the land desirable they did not want it, — he took his horse and buggy
and started for the constitutional convention at Philadelphia. On
July 13, 17S7, the bill was put upon its passage, and was unani-
mously adopted. Thus the great States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois,
Michigan and Wisconsin, a vast empire, were consecrated to free
dom, intelligence, and morality. Thus the great heart of the nation
was prepared to save the union of States, for it was this act that was
the salvation of the republic and the destruction of slavery. Soon
the South saw their great blunder and tried to have the compact
repealed. In 1803 Congress referred it to a committee, of which
John Randolph was chairman. He reported that this ordinance
was a compact and opposed repeal. Thus it stood, a rock in the
way of the on-rushing sea of slavery.
The " Northwestern Territory " included of course what is now
the State of Indiana; and Oct 5, 17*7, Maj. Gen. Arthur St. Clair
was elected by Congress Governor of this territory. Upon
commencing the duties of his office he was instructed to ascertain
the real temper of the Indians and do all in his power to remove
the causes for controversy between them and the United States,
and to effect the extinguishment of Indian titles to all the land
possible. The Governor took up quarters in the new settlement of
Marietta, Ohio, where he immediately began the organization of
the government of the territory. The first session of the General
Court of the new territory was held at that place in 17SS, the
Judges being Samuel II. Parsons, James M. Varnum aud John C.
Symmes, but under the ordinance Gov. St. Clair was President of
the Court. After the first session, aud after the necessary laws for
government were adopted, Gov. St. Clair, accompanied by the
Judges, visited Kaskaskia for the purpose of organizing a civil gov-
ernment there. Full instructions had been sent to Alaj. Hamtramck,
commandant at Vincennes, to ascertain the exact feeling and temper
of the Indian tribes of the Wabash. These instructions were ac-
companied by speeches to each of the tribes. A Frenchman named
Antoiue Gamelin was dispatched with these messages April 5, 1790,
svho visited nearly all the tribes on the Wabash, St. Joseph and St.
HISTORY OF INDIANA. 73
Mary's rivers, but was coldly received; most of the chiefs being
dissatisfied with the policy of the Americans toward them, and
prejudiced through English misrepresentation. Full accounts of
his adventures among the tribes reached Gov. St. Clair at Kaskas-
kia in June, 1790. Being satisfied that there was no prospect of
effecting a general peace with the Indians of Indiana, he resolved
to visit Gen. Harmar at his headquarters at Fort Washington and
consult with him on the means of carrying an expedition against
the hostile Indians; but before leaving he intrusted Winthrop
Sargent, the Secretary of the Territory, with the execution of the
resolutions of Congress regarding the lands and settlers on the
Wabash. He directed that officer to proceed to Vincennes, lay
out a county there, establish the militia and appoint the necessary
civil and military officers. Accordingly Mr. Sargent went to Vin-
cennes and organized Camp Knox, appointed the officers, and noti-
fied the inhabitants to present their claims to lands. In establish-
ing these claims the settlers found great difficulty, and concerning
this matter the Secretary in his report to the President wrote as
follows:
"Although the lands and lots which were awarded to the inhabi-
tants appeared from very good oral testimony to belong to those
persons to whom they were awarded, either by original grants, pur-
chase or inheritance, yet there was scarcely one case in twenty
where the title was complete, owing- to the desultory manner in
which public business had been transacted and some other unfor-
tunate causes. The original concessions by the French and British
commandants were generally made upon a small scrap of paper,
which it has been customary to lodge in the notary's office, who
has seldom kept any book of record, but committed the most im-
portant land concerns to loose sheets, which in process of time
have come into possession of persons that have fraudulently de-
stroyed them; or, unacquainted with their consequence, innocently
lost or trifled them away. By French usage they are considered
family inheritances, and often descend to women and children. In
one instance, and during the government of St. A'.ige here, a ro} T al
notary ran off with all the public papers in his possession, as by a
certificate produced to me. And I am very sorry further to observe
that in the office of Mr. Le Grand, which continued from 1777 to
1787, and where should have been the vouchers for important land
transactions, the records have been so falsified, and there is 6uch
gross fraud and forgery, as to invalidate all evidence and informa-
tion which I might have otherwise acquired from his papers."
74 HISTORY OF INDIANA.
Mr. Sargent says there were about 150 French families at Vin-
cennes in 1790. The heads of all these families had been at some
time vested with certain tides to a portion of the soil ; and whiie
the Secretary was busy in straightening out these claims, he re-
ceived a petition signed by SO Americans, asking for the confirma-
tion of grants of land ceded by the Court organized by Col. John
Todd under the authority of Virginia. With reference to this
cause, Congress, March 3, 1791, empowered the Territorial Governor,
in cases where land had been actually improved and cultivated
under a supposed grant for the same, to confirm to the persons who
made such improvements the lands supposed to have been granted,
not, however, exceeding the quantity of 400 acres to any one per-
son.
LIQUOR AND GAMING LAWS.
The General Court in the summer of 1790, Acting Governor
Sargent presiding, passed the following laws with reference to
vending liquor among the Indians and others, and with reference
to games of chance:
1. An act to prohibit the giving or selling intoxicating liquors
to Indians residing in or coining into the Territory of the United
States northwest of the river Ohio, and for preventing foreigners
from trading with Indians therein.
2. An act prohibiting the sale of spirituous or other intoxicat-
ing liquors to soldiers in the service of the United States, being
within ten miles of any military post in the territory; and to pre-
vent the selling or pawning of arms, ammunition, clothing or
accoutrements.
3. An act prohibiting every species of gaming for money or
property, and for making void contracts and payments made in
consequence thereof, and for restraining the disorderly practice
of discharging arms at certain hours and places.
Winthrop Sargent's administration was highly eulogized by the
citizens at Vincennes, in a testimonial drawn up and signed by a
committee of officers. He had conducted the investigation and
settlement of laud claims to the entire satisfaction of the residents,
had upheld the principles of free government in keeping with the
animus of the American .Revolution, and had established in good
order the machinery of a good and wise government. In the same
address Major Hamtramck also received a fair share of praise for
his judicious management of affairs.
MILITARY HISTORY 1790-1800.
EXPEDITIONS OF HARMAR, SCOTT AND WILKINSON.
Gov. St. Clair, on his arrival at Fort Washington from Kas-
kaskia, had a long conversation with Gen. Harinar, and concluded
to send a powerful force to chastise the savages about the head-
waters of the Wabash. He had been empowered by the President
to call on Virginia for 1,000 troops and on Pennsylvania for 500,
and he immediately availed himself of this resource, ordering 300
of the Virginia militia to muster at Fort Steuben and march with
the garrison of that fort to Vincennes, and join Maj. Hamtramck,
who had orders to call for aid from the militia of Vincennes, march
up the Wabash, and attack any of the Indian villages which he
might think he could overcome. The remaining 1,200 of the mi-
litia were ordered to rendezvous at Fort Washington, and to join
the regular troops at that post under command of Gen. Harmar.
At this time the United States troops in the West were estimated
by Gen. Harmar at 400 effective men. These, with the militia,
gave him a force of 1,450 men. With this army Gen. Harmar
marched from Fort Washington Sept. 30, and arrived at the Mau-
mee Oct. 17. They commenced the work of punishing the Indians,
but were not very successful. The savages, it is true, received a
severe scourging, but the militia behaved so badly as to be of little
or no service. A detachment of 340 militia and GO regulars, under
the command of Col. Hardin, were sorely defeated on the Maumee
Oct. 22. The next day the army took up the line of march for
Fort Washington, which place they reached Nov. 4, having lost in
the expedition 1S3 killed and 31 wounded; the Indians lost about
as many. During the progress of this expedition Maj. Hamtramck
marched up the Wabash from Vincennes, as far as the Vermillion
river, and destroyed several deserted villages, but without finding
an enemy to oppose him.
Although the savages seem to have been severely punished by
these expeditions, yet they refused to sue for peace, and continued
their hostilities. Thereupon the inhabitants of the frontier settle-
ments of Virginia took alarm, and the delegates of Ohio, Monon-
CT5)
6
76 HISTORY OF INDIANA.
gahela, Harrison, Randolph, Greenbrier, Kanawha and Mont-
gomery counties sent a joint memorial to the Governor of Vir-
ginia, saying that the defenseless condition of the counties, form-
ing a line of nearly 400 miles along the Ohio river, exposed to the
hostile invasion of their Indian enemies, destitute of every kind of
support, was truly alarming; for, notwithstanding all the regula-
tions of the General Government in that country, they have reason
to lament that they have been up to that time ineffectual for their
protection; nor indeed could it be otherwise, for the garrisons kept
by the Continental troops on the Ohio river, if of any use at all,
must protect only the Kentucky settlements, as they immediately
covered that country. They further stated in their memorial: "We
beg leave to observe that we have reason to fear that the conse-
quences of the defeat of our army by the Indians in the late expe-
dition will be severely felt on our frontiers, as there is no doubt
that the Indians will, in their turn, being flushed with victory, in-
vade our settlements and exercise all their horrid murder upon the
inhabitants thereof whenever the weather will permit them to
travel. Then is it not better to support us where we are, be the ex-
pense what it may, than to oblige such a number of your brave
citizens, who have so long supported, and still continue to support,
a dangerous frontier (although thousands of their relatives in the
flesh have in the prosecution thereof fallen a sacrifice to savage in-
ventions) to quit the country, after all they have done and suffered,
when you know that a frontier must be supported somewhere?"
This memorial caused the Legislature of Virginia to authorize
the Governor of that State to make any defensive operations neces-
sary for the temporary defense of the frontiers, until the general
Government could adopt and carry out measures to suppress the
hostile Indians. The Governor at once called upon the military
commanding officers in the western counties of Virginia to raise by
the first of March, 1791, several small companies of rangers for this
purpose. At the same time Charles Scott was appointed Brigadier-
General of the Kentucky militia, with authority to raise 226 vol-
unteers, to protect the most exposed portions of that district. A
full report of the proceedings of the Virginia Legislature being
transmitted to Congress, that body constituted a local Board of
War for the district of Kentucky, consisting of five men. March 9,
1791, Gen. Henry Knox, Secretary of War, sent a letter of instruc-
tions to Gen. Scott, recommending an expedition of mounted men
not exceeding 750, against the Wea towns on the Wabash. With
HISTORY OF INDIANA. f 7
this force Gen. Scott accordingly crossed the Ohio, May 23_ 1791,
and reached the Wabash in about ten days. Many of the Indians,
having discovered his approach, fled, but he succeeded in destroy-
ing all the villages around Ouiatenon, together with several Kick-
apoo towns, killing 32 warriors and taking 53 prisoners. He
released a few of the most infirm prisoners, giving them a "talk,"
which they carried to the towns farther up the Wabash, and which
the wretched condition of his horses prevented him from reaching.
March 3, 1791, Congress provided for raising and equipping a
regiment for the protection of the frontiers, and Gov. St. Clair was
invested with the chief command of about 3,000 troops, to be raised
and employed against the hostile Indians in the territory over
which his jurisdiction extended. lie was instructed by the Secre-
tary of War to march to the Miami village and establish a strong
and permanent military post there; also such posts elsewhere along
the Ohio as would be in communication with Fort Washington.
The post at Miami village was intended to keep the savages in that
vicinity in check, and was ordered to be strong enough in its gar-
rison to afford a detachment of 500 or 600 men in case of emer-
gency, either to chastise any of the Wabash or other hostile Indians
or capture convoys of the enemy's provisions. The Secretary of
War also urged Gov. St. Clair to establish that post as the first and
most important part of the campaign. In case of a previous
treaty the Indians were to be conciliated upon this point if possible;
and he presumed good arguments might be offered to induce their
accmiescence. Said he: "Having commenced your march upon the
main expedition, and the Indians continuing hostile, you will use
every possible exertion to make them feel the effects of your superi-
ority; and, after having arrived at the Miami village and put your
works in a defensible state, you will seek the enemy with the whole
of your remaining force, and endeavor by all possible means to
strike them with great severity. * * * *
In order to avoid future wars, it might be proper to make the Wa-
bash and thence over to the Maumee, and down the same to its
mouth, at Lake Erie, the boundary between the people of the
United States and the Indians (excepting so far as the same should
relate to the Wyandots and Delawares), on the supposition of their
continuing faithful to the treaties; but if they should join in the
war against the United States, and your army be victorious, the
said tribes ought to be removed without the boundary mentioned."
Previous to marching a strong force to the Miami town, Gov. St.
78 HISTORY OF INDIANA.
Clair, June 25, 1791, authorized Gen Wilkinson to conduct a second
expedition, not exceeding 500 mounted men, against the Indian
villages on the Wabash. Accordingly Gen. Wilkinson mustered
his forces and was ready Ju*ly 20, to march with 525 mounted vol-
unteers, well armed, and provided with 30 days' provisions, and
with this force he reached the Ke-na-pa-com-a-qua village on the
north hank of Eel river about six miles above its mouth, Aug. 7,
where he killed six warriors and took 34 prisoners. This town,
which was scattered along the river for three miles, was totally de-
stroyed. Wilkinson encamped on the ruins of the town that night,
and the next day he commenced his march for the Kickapoo town
on the prairie, which he was unable to reach owing to the impassa-
ble condition of the route which he adopted and the failing condi-
tion of his horses. He reported the estimated results of the expe-
dition as follows: "I have destroyed the chief town of the Ouiate-
non nation, and have made prisoners of the sons and sisters of the
king. I have burned a respectable Kickapoo village, and cut down
at least 400 acres of corn, chiefly in the milk."
EXPEDITIONS OF ST. CLAIR AND WAYNE.
The Indians were greatly damaged by the expeditions of Harmar,
Scott and Wilkinson, but were far from being subdued. They
regarded the pclicy of the United States as calculated to extermi-
nate them from the land; and, goaded on by the English of Detroit,
enemies of the Americans, they were excited to desperation. At
this time the British Government still supported garrisons at
Niagara, Detroit and Michilimackinac, although it was declared by
the second article of the definitive treaty of peace of 17S3, that
the king of Great Britain would, " with all convenient speed, and
without causing any destruction or carrying away any negroes or
property of the American inhabitants, withdraw all his forces,
garrisons and fleets from the United States, and from every post,
place and harbor within the same." That treaty also provided that
the creditors on either side should meet with no lawful impedi-
ments to the recovery of the full value, in sterling money, of all
bona fide debts previously contracted. The British Government
claimed that the United States had broken faith in this particular
understanding of the treaty, and in consequence refused to with-
draw its forces frtm the territory. The British garrisons in the
Lake Region wero a source of much annoyance to the Americans,
as they afforded onctor to hostile Indians, encouraging them to
HISTORY OF INDIANA. 79
make raids among the Americans. This state of affairs in the
Territory Northwest of the Ohio continued from the commence-
ment of the Revolutionary war to 1796, when under a second
treaty all British soldiers were withdrawn from the country.
In September, 1791, St. Clair moved from Fort Washington
with about 2,000 men, and November 3, the main army, consisting
of about 1,400 effective troops, moved forward to the head-waters
of the Wabash, where Fort Recovery was afterward erected, and
here the army encamped. About 1,200 Indians were secreted a few
miles distant, awaiting a favorable opportunity to begin an attack,
which they improved on the morning of Nov. 4, about half an hour
before sunrise. The attack was first made upon the militia, which
immediately gave way. St. Clair was defeated and he returned to
Fort Washington with a broken and dispirited army, having lost
39 officers killed, and 539 men killed and missing; 22 officers and
232 men were wounded. Several pieces of artillery, and all the
baggage, ammunition and provisions were left on the field of bat-
tle and fell into the hands of the victorious Indians. The stores
and other public property lost in the action were valued at $32,800.
There were also 100 or more American women with the army of
the whites, very few of whom escaped the cruel carnage of the sav-
age Indians. The latter, characteristic of their brutal nature,
proceeded in the flush of victory to perpetrate the most horrible
acts of cruelty and brutality upon the bodies of the living and the
dead Americans who fell into their hands. Believing that the
whites had made war for many years merely to acquire land, the
Indians crammed clay and sand iuto the eyes and down the throats
of the dying and the dead!
gen. watne's great victory.
Although no particular blame was attached to Gov. St. Clair for
the loss in this expedition, yet he resigned the office of Major-Gen-
eral, and was succeeded by Anthony Wayne, a distinguished
officer of the Revolutionary war. Early in 1792 provisions were
made by the general Government for re-organizing the army, so
that it should consist of an efficient degree of strength. Wayne
arrived at Pittsburg in June, where the army was to rendezvous.
Here he continued actively engaged in organizing and training his
forces until October, 1793, when with an army of about 3,600 men
he moved westward to Fort Washington.
While Wayne was preparing for an offensive campaign, every
SO HISTOEY OF INDIANA.
possible means was employed to induce the hostile tribes of the
Northwest to enter into a general treaty of peace with the Ameri-
can Government; speeches were sent among them, and agents to
make treaties were also sent, but little was accomplished. Major
Hamtramck, who 6till remained at Vincennes, succeeded in con-
cluding a general peace with the Wabash and Illinois Indians; but
the tribes more immediately under the influence of the British
refused to hear the sentiments of friendship that were sent among
them, and tomahawked several of the messengers. Their courage
had been aroused by St. Ck.ir's defeat, as well as by the unsuccess-
ful expeditions which had preceded it, and they now felt quite pre-
pared to meet a superior force under Gen. "Wayne. The Indians
insisted on the Ohio river as the boundary line between their lands
and the lands of the United States, and felt certain that they could
maintain that boundary.
Maj. Gen. Scott, with about 1,600 mounted volunteers from
Kentucky, joined the regular troops under Gen. Wayne July 26,
1794, and on the 2Sth the united forces began their march for the
Indian towns on the Maumee river. Arriving at the mouth of
the Auglaize, they erected Fort Defiance, and Aug. 15 the army
advanced toward the British fort at the foot of the rapids of the
Maumee, where, on the 20th, almost within reach of the British,
the American army gained a decisive victory over the combined
forces of the hostile Indians and a considerable number of the
Detroit militia. The number of the enemy was estimated at 2,000,
against about 900 American troops actually engaged. This horde
of savages, as soon as the action began, abandoned themselves to
flight and dispersed with terror and dismay, leaving Wayne's vic-
torious army in full and quiet possession of the field. The Ameri-
cans lost 33 killed and 100 wounded; loss of the enemy more than
double this number.
The army remained three days and nights on the banks of the
Maumee, in front of the field of battle, during which time all the
houses and cornfields w.?re consumed and destroyed for a considera-
ble distance both above and below Fort Miami, as well as within
pistol shot of the British garrison, who were compelled to remain
idle spectators to this general devastation and conflagration, among
which were the houses, stores and property of Col. McKee, the
British Indian agent and " principal stimulator of the war then
existing between the United States and savages." On the return
march to Fort Defiance the villages and cornfields for about 50
HISTORY OF INDIANA. 81
miles on each side of the Maumee were destroyed, as well as those
for a considerable distance around that post.
Sept. 14, 1791, the army under Gen. Wayne commenced its
march toward the deserted Miami villages at the confluence of St.
Joseph's and St. Mary's rivers, arriving Oct. 17, and on the follow-
ing day the site of Fort Wayne was selected. The fort was com-
pleted Nov. 2'i, and garrisoned by a strong detachment of infantry
and artillery, under the command of Col. John F. Hamtramck, who
gave to the new fort the name of Fort Wayne. In lSlla new fort
was built on the site of this structure. The Kentucky volunteers
returned to Fort Washington and were mustered out of service.
Gen. Wayne, with the Federal troops, marched to Greenville and
took up his headquarters during the winter. Here, in August,
1795, after several months of active negotiation, this gallant officer
succeeded in concluding a general treaty of peace with all the hos-
tile tribes of the Northwestern Territory. This treaty opened the
way for the flood of immigration for many years, and ultimately
made the States and territories now constituting the mighty North-
west.
Up to the organization of the Indiana Territory there is but little
history to record aside from those events connected with military
affairs. In July, 1796, as before stated, after a treaty was con-
cluded between the United States and Spain, the British garrisons,
with their arms, artillery and stores, were withdrawn from the
posts within the boundaries of the United States northwest of the
Ohio river, and a detachment of American troops, consisting of 65
men, under the command of Capt. Moses Porter, took possession
of the evacuated post of Detroit in the same month.
In the latter part of 1796 Winthrop Sargent went to Detroit and
organized the county of Wayne, forming a part of the Indiana
Territory until its division in 1805, when the Territory of Michigan
was organized.
TERRITORIAL HISTORY.
ORGANIZATION OF INDIANA TERRITORY.
Oil the final success of American arms and diplomacy in 1796,
the principal town within the Territory, now the State, of Indiana
was Vincennes, which at this time comprised about 50 houses, all
presenting a thrifty and tidy appearance. Each house was sur-
rounded by a garden fenced with poles, and peach and apple-trees
grew in most of the enclosures. Garden vegetables of all kinds
were cultivated with success, and corn, tobacco, wheat, barley and
cotton grew in the fields around the village in abundance. During
the last few years of the 18th century the condition of society at
Vincennes improved wonderfully.
Besides Vincennes there was a small settlement near where the
town of Lawrenceburg now stands, in Dearborn county, and in the
course of that year a small settlement was formed at "Armstrong's
Station," on the Ohio, within the present limits of Clark county.
There were of course several other smaller settlements and trading
posts in the present limits of Indiana, and the number of civilized
inhabitants comprised within the territory was estimated at 4,S75.
The Territory of Indiana was organized by Act of Congress May
7, 1800, the material parts of the ordinance of 1787 remaining in
force; and the inhabitants were invested with all the rights, privi-
leges and advantages granted and secured to the people by that
ordinance. The seat of government was fixed at Vincennes. May
13, 1800, Win. Henry Harrison, a native ot Virginia, was appoint-
ed Governor of this new territory, and on the next day John Gib-
son, a native of Pennsylvania and a distinguished Western pioneer,
(to whom the Indian chief Logan delivered his celebrated speech in
1774), was appointed Secretary of the Territory. Soon afterward
Wm. Clark, Henry Vanderburgh and John Griffin were appointed
territorial Judges.
Secretary Gibson arrived at Vincennes in July, and commenced,
in the absence of Gov. Harrison, the administration of government.
Gov. Harrison did not arrive until Jan. 10, 1S01, when he imme-
diately called together the Judges of the Territory, who proceeded
HISTORY OF INDIANA. 83
to pass such laws as they deemed necessary for the present govern-
ment of the Territory. This session began March 3, 1801.
From this time to 1S10 the principal subjects which attracted the
attention of the people of Indiana were land speculations, the
adjustment of land titles, the question of negro slavery, the purchase
of Indian lands by treaties, the organization of Territorial legis-
latures, the extension of the right of suffrage, the division of
Indiana Territory, the movements of Aaron Burr, and the hostile
views and proceedings of the Shawanee chief, Tecumseh, and his
brother, the Prophet.
Up to this time the sixth article of the celebrated ordinance of
1787, prohibiting slavery in the Northwestern Territory, had been
somewhat neglected in the execution of the law, and many French
settlers still held slaves in a manner. In some instances, according
to rules prescribed by Territorial legislation, slaves agreed by
indentures to remain in servitude under their masters for a certain
number of years; but many slaves, with whom no such contracts
were made, were removed from the Indiana Territory either to the
west of the Mississippi or to some of the slaveholding States.
Gov. Harrison convoked a session of delegates of the Territory,
elected by a popular vote, who petitioned Congress to declare the
sixth article of the ordinance of 1787, prohibiting slavery, suspend-
ed; but Congress never consented to grant that petition, and many
other petitions of a similar import. Soon afterward some of the
citizens began to take colored persons out of the Territory for the
purpose of selling them, and Gov. Harrison, by a proclamation
April 6, 1804, forbade it, and called upon the authorities of the
Territory to assist him in preventing such removal of persons
of color.
During the year 1804 all the country west of the Mississippi and
north of 33° was attached to Indiana Territory by Congress, but in
a few months was again detached and organized into a separate ter-
ritory .
"When it appeared from the result of a popular vote in the Terri-
tory that a majority of 138 freeholders were in favor of organizing
a General Assembly, Gov. Harrison, Sept. 11, 1804, issued a procla-
mation declaring that the Territory had passed into thes^cond grade
of government, as contemplated by the ordinance or^787, and
fixed Thursday, Jan. 3, 1S05, as the time for holding an election in
the several counties of the Territory, to choose members of a House
of Representatives, who should meet at Vincennes Feb. 1 and
84 HISTORY OF INDIANA.
adopt measures for the organization of a Territorial Council. These
delegates were elected, and met according to the proclamation, and
selected ten men from whom the President of the United States,
Mr. Jefferson, should appoint five to be and constitute the Legisla-
tive Council of the Territory, but he declining, requested Mr. Har-
rison to make the selection, which was accordingly done. Before
the first session of this Council, however, was held, Michigan Ter-
ritory was set off, its south line being one drawn from the southern
end of Lake Michigan directly east to Lake Erie.
FIRST TERRITORIAL LEGISLATURE.
The first General Assembly, or Legislature, of Indiana Territory
met at Vincennes July 29, 1S05, in pursuance of a gubernatorial
proclamation. The members of the House of Representatives were
Jesse B. Thomas, of Dearborn county ; Davis Floyd. of Clark county;
Benjamin Parke and John Johnson, of Knox county; Shadrach
Bond and William Biggs, of St. Clair. county, and George Fisher,
of Randolph county. July 30 the Governor delivered his first mes-
sage to "the Legislative Council and House of Representatives of
the Indiana Territory." Benjamin Parke was the first delegate
elected to Congress. He had emigrated from New Jersey to In-
diana in 1S01.
THE "WESTERN SUN"
was the first newspaper published in the Indiana Territory, now
comprising the four great States of Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and
Wisconsin, and the second in all that country once known as the
''Northwestern Territory." It was commenced at Vincennes in
1803, by Elihu Stout, of Kentucky, and first called the Indiana,
Gazette, and July, 4, 1804, was changed to the Western Sun. Mr.
Stout continued the paper until 1845, amid many discouragements,
when he was appointed postmaster at the place, and he sold out
the office.
INDIANA in 1S10.
The events which we have just been describing really constitute
the initiatory steps to the great military campaign of Gen. Harrison
which ended in the "battle of Tippecanoe;" but before proceeding
to an account of that brilliant affair, let us take a glance at the re-
sources and strength of Indiana Territory at this time, 1S10:
Total population, 24,520; 33 grist mills: 14 saw mills; 3 horse
mills; 18 tanneries; 28 distilleries; 3 powder mills; 1,256 looms;
HISTORY OF INDIANA. 85
1,350 spinning wheels; value of manufactures — woolen, cotton
hempen and flaxen cloths, $159,052; of cotton and wool spun in
mills, $150,000; of nails, 30,000 pounds, $4,000; of leather tanned,
$9,300; of distillery products, 35,950 gallons, $16,230; of gun-
powder, 3,600 pounds, $1,S00; of wine from grapes, 96 barrels,
$6,000, and 5 0,000 pounds of maple sugar.
During the year 1810 a Board of Commissioners was established
to straighten out the confused condition into which the land-title
controversy had been carried by the various and conflicting admin-
istrations that had previously exercised jurisdiction in this regard.
This work was attended with much labor on the part of the Commis-
sioners and great dissatisfaction on the part of a few designing specu-
lators, who thought no extreme of perjury too hazardous in their
mad attempts to obtain lands fraudulently. In closing their report
the Commissioners used the following expressive language: " We
close this melancholy picture of human depravity by rendering our
devout acknowledgment that, in the 'awful alternative in which we
have been placed, of either admitting perjured testimony in sup-
port of the claims before us, or having it turned against our char-
acters and lives, it has as yet pleased that divine providence which
rules over the affairs of men, to preserve us, both from legal mur-
der and private assassination."
The question of dividing the Territory of Indiana was agitated
from 1806 to 1S09, when Congress erected the Territory of Illinois,
to comprise all that part of Indiana Territory lying west of the
Wabash river and a direct line drawn from that river and Post
Vincennes due north to the territorial line between the United
States and Canada. This occasioned some confusion in the govern-
ment of Indiana, but in due time the new elections were confirmed,
and the new territory started off on a journey of prosperity which
this section of the United States has ever since enjoyed.
From the first settlement of Vincennes for nearly half a century
there occurred nothing of importance to relate, at least so far as
the records inform us. The place was too isolated to grow very
fast, and we suppose there was a succession of priests and com-
mandants, who governed the little world around them with almost
infinite power and authority, from whose decisions there was no
appeal, if indeed any was ever desired. The character of society
in such a place would of course grow gradually different from the
parent society, assimilating more or less with that of neighboring
tribes. The whites lived in peace, with the Indians, each under-
86 HISTORY OF INDIANA.
standing the other's peculiarities, which remained fixed long
enough for both parties to study out and understand them. The
government was a mixture of the military and the civil. There
was little to incite to enterprise. Speculations in money and prop-
erty, and their counterpart, beggary, were both unknown; the nec-
essaries of life were easily procured, and beyond these there were
but few wants to be supplied; hospitality was exercised by all, as
there were no taverns; there seemed to be no use for law, judges
or prisons; each district had its commandant, and the proceedings
of a trial were singular. The complaining party obtained a notifi-
cation from the commandant to his adversary, accompanied by a
command to render justice. If this had no effect he was notified
to appear before the commandant on a particular day and answer;
and if the last notice was neglected, a sergeant and file of men
were sent to bring him, — no sheriff and no costs. The convicted
part} r would be fined and kept in prison until he rendered justice
according to the decree; when extremely refractory the cat-o'-nine-
tails brought him to a sense of justice. In such a state of society
there was no demand for learning and science. Few could read,
and still fewer write. Their disposition was nearly always to deal
honestly, at least simply. Peltries were their standard of value.
A brotherly love generally prevailed. But they were devoid of
public spirit, enterprise or ingenuity.
GOV. HARRISON AND THE INDIANS.
Immediately after the organization of Indiana Territory Governor
Harrison's attention was directed, by necessity as well as by in-
structions from Congress, to settling affairs with those Indians who
still held claims to lands. He entered into several treaties, by
which at the close of 1805 the United States Government had ob-
tained about 46,000 square miles of territory, including all the
lands lying on the borders of the Ohio river between the mouth of
the Wabash river and the State of Ohio.
The levying of a tax, especially a poll tax, by the General Assem-
bly, created considerable dissatisfaction among many of the inhabit-
ants. At a meeting held Sunday, August 16, 1S07, a number of
Frenchmen resolved to " withdraw their confidence and support
forever from those men who advocated or in any manner promoted
the second grade of government."
In 1S07 the territorial statutes were revised and under the new
code, treason, murder, arson and horse-stealing were each punish-
able by death. The crime of manslaughter was punishable by the
common law. Burglary and robbery were punishable by whip-
ping, fine and in some cases by imprisonment not exceeding forty
years. Hog stealing was punishable by fine and whipping. Bigamy
was punishable by fine, whipping and disfranchisement, etc.
In 1804 Congress established three land offices for the sale of
lands in Indiana territory; one was located at Detroit, one at Vin-
cennes and one at Kaskaskia. In 1807 a fourth one was opened at
Jefferson ville, Clark county; this town was first laid out in 1802,
agreeably to plans suggested by Mr. Jefferson then President of
the United States.
Governor Harrison, according to his message to the Legislature
in 1806, seemed to think that the peace then existing between the
whites and the Indians was permanent; but in the same document
he referred to a matter that might be a source of trouble, which in-
deed it proved to be, namely, the execution of white laws among
the Indians — laws to which the latter had not been a party in their
enactment. The trouble was aggravated by the partiality with
which the laws seem always to have been executed; the Indian
(87)
88 HISTORY OF INDIANA.
•was nearly always the sufferer. All along from ISOo to 1810 the
Indians complained bitterly against the encroachments of the white
people upon the lands that belonged to them. The invasion pf their
hunting grounds and the unjustifiable killing of many of their peo-
ple were the sources of their discontent. An old chief, in laying
the trouble of his people before Governor Harrison, said: "You
call us children ; why do you not make us as happy as our fathers,
the French, did? The}' never took from us our lands; indeed, the}'
■were common between us. They planted where they pleased, and
they cut wood where they pleased; and so did we; but now if a
poor Indian attempts to take a little bark from a tree to cover him
from the rain, up comes a white man and threatens to shoot him,
claiming the tree as his own."
The Indian truly had grounds for his complaint, and the state of
feeling existing among the tribes at this time was well calculated
to develop a patriotic leader who should carry them all forward to
victory at arms, if certain concessions were not made to them by the
whites. But this golden opportunity was seized by an unworthy
■warrior. A brother of Tecumseh, a "prophet" named Law-le-was-i-
kaw, but who assumed the name of Pems-quat-a-wah (Open Door),
was the crafty Shawanee warrior who was enabled to work upon
both the superstitions and the rational judgment of his fellow In-
dians. He was a good orator, somewhat peculiar in his appearance
and well calculated to win the attention and respect of the savages.
He began by denouncing witchcraft, the use of intoxicating liquors,
the custom of Indian women marrying white men, the dress of the
whites and the practice of selling Indian lands to the United States.
He also told the Indians that the commands of the Great Spirit re-
quired them to punish with death those who practiced the arts of
witchcraft and magic; that the Great Spirit had given him power
to find out and expose such persons; that he had power to cure all
diseases, to confound his enemies and to stay the arm of death in
sickness and on the battle-field. His harangues aroused among
some bands of Indians a high degree of superstitious excitement.
An old Delaware chief named Ta-te-bock-o-she, through whose in-
fluence a treaty had been made with the Delawares in 1804, was
accused of witchcraft, tried, condemned and tomahawked, and
his body consumed by fire. The old chief's wife, nephew
("Billy Patterson ") and an aged Indian named Joshua were next
accused of witchcraft and condemned to death. The two men were
burned at the stake, but the wife of Ta-te-bock-o-she was saved from
THE SHAWNEE PliOPflET.
HISTORY OF INDIANA. 91
death by her brother, who suddenly approached her, took her by the
hand, and, without meeting any opposition from the Indians present,
led her out of the council- house. He then immediately returned and
checked the growing influence of the Prophet by exclaiming in a
strong, earnest voice, " The Evil Spirit has come among us and we
are killing each other." — [Dillon's History of Indiana.
When Gov. Harrison was made acquainted with these events he
sent a special messenger to the Indians, strongly entreating them to
renounce the Prophet and his works. This reallydestroyed to some
extent the Prophet's influence; but in the spring of 1808, having
aroused nearly all the tribes of the Lake Region, the Prophet with
a large number of followers settled near the mouth of the Tippe-
canoe river, at a place which afterward had the name of "Prophet's-
Town." Taking advantage of his brother's influence, Tecumseh
actively engaged himself in forming the various tribes into a con-
federacy. He announced publicly to all the Indians that the
treaties by which the United States had acquired lands northwest
of the Ohio were not made in fairness, and should be considered
void. He also said that no single tribe was invested with power to
sell lands without the consent of all the other tribes, and that he
and his brother, the Prophet, would oppose and resist all future
attempts which the white people might make to extend their set-
tlements in the lands that belonged to the Indians.
Early in 1808, Gov. Harrison sent a speech to the Shawanees,
in which was this sentence: " My children, this business must be
stopped; I will no longer suffer it. You have called a number of
men from the most distant tribes to listen to a fool, who speaks
not the words of the Great Spirit but those of the devil and the
British agents. My children, your conduct has much alarmed the
white settlers near you. They desire that you will send away those
people; and if they wish to have the impostor with them they can
carry him along with them. Let him go to the lakes; he can hear
the British more distinctly." This message wounded the pride of
the Prophet, and he prevailed on the messenger to inform Gov.
Harrison that he was not in league with the British, but was speak-
ing truly the words of the Great Spirit.
In the latter part of the summer of 1S0S, the Prophet spent sev-
eral weeks at Vincennes, for the purpose of holding interviews
with Gov. Harrison. At one time he told the Governor that he
was a Christian and endeavored to persuade his people also to
become Christians, abandon the use of liquor, be united in broth-
92 UISTORT OF INDIANA.
erly love, etc., making Mr. Harrison believe at least, that he was
honest; but before long it was demonstrated that the '-Prophet"
was designing, cunning >nd unreliable; that both he and Tecumseh
were enemies of the United States, and friends of the English; and
that in case of a war between the Americans and English, they
would join the latter. The next year the Prophet again visited
Vincennes, with assurances that he was not in sympatlvv with the
English, but the Governor was not disposed to believe him; and in
a letter to the Secretary of War, in Jiily, 1809, he said that he
regarded the bands of Indians at Prophet's Town as a combination
which had been produced by British intrigue and influence, in antic-
ipation of a war between them and the United States.
In direct opposition to Tecumseh and the prophet and in spite
of all these difficulties, Gov. Harrison continued the work of extin-
guishing Indian titles to lands, with very good success. By the
close of 1S<»9, the total amount of land ceded to the United States,
under treaties which had been effected by Mr. Harrison, exceeded
3u.( ii)0,000 a res.
From 1805 to 1807, the movements of Aaron Burr in the Ohio
valley created considerable excitement in Indiana. It seemed that
he intended to collect a force o[' men, invade Mexico and found a
republic there, comprising all the country west of the Alleghany
mountains. He gathered, however, but a few men, started south,
and was soon arrested by the Federal authorities. But before his
arrest he had abandoned his expedition and his followers had
dispersed.
Harrison's campaign.
While the Indians were combining to prevent any further trans-
fer of land to the whites, the British were using the advantage as a
groundwork for a successful war upon the Americans. In the
spring of 1810 the followers of the Prophet refused to receive their
annuity of salt, and the officials who offered it were denounced as
"American dogs," and otherwise treated in a disrespectful manner.
Gov. Harrison, in July, attempted to gain the friendship of the
Prophet by sending him a letter,offering to treat with him person-
ally in the matter of his grievances, or to furnish means to send
him, with three of his principal chiefs, to the President at Wash-
ington; but the messenger was coldly received, and they returned
word that they would visit Vincennes in a few days and interview
the Governor. Accordingly, Aug. 12, 1810, the Shawanee chief
with 70 of his principal warriors, marched up to the door of the
HISTORY OF INDIANA. 93
Governor's house, and from that day until the 22d held daily inter-
views with His Excellency. In all of his speeches Tecumseh was
haughty, and sometimes arrogant. On the 20th he delivered that
celebrated speech in which he gave the Governor the alternative of
returning their lands or meeting them in battle.
While the Governor was replying to this speech Tecumseh inter-
rupted him with an angry exclamation, declaring that the United
States, through Gov. Harrison, had "cheated and imposed on the
Indians.'" When Tecumseh first rose, a number of his party also
sprung to their feet, armed with clubs, tomahawks and spears, and
made some threatening demonstrations. The Governor's guards,
who stood a little way off, were marched up in haste, and the In-
dians, awed by the presence of this small armed force, abandoned
what seemed to be an intention to make an open attack on the Gov-
ernor and his attendants. As soon as Tecumseh's remarks were
interpreted, the Governor reproached him for his conduct, and com-
manded him to depart instantly to his camp.
On the following day Tecumseh repented of his rash act and re-
quested the Governor to grant him another interview, and pro-
tested against any intention of offense. The Governor consented,
and the council was re-opened on the 21st, when the Shawanee
chief addressed him in a respectful and dignified manner, but re-
mained immovable in his policy. The Governor then requested
Tecumseh to state plainly whether or not the surveyors who might
be sent to survey the lauds purchased at the treaty of Fort Wayne
in 1S09, would be molested by Indians. Tecumseh replied:
"Brother, when you speak of annuities to me, I look at the laud
and pity the women and children. I am authorized to say that they
will not receive them. Brother, we want to save that piece of land.
We do not wish you to take it. It is small enough for our purpose.
If you do take it, you must blame yourself as the cause of the
trouble between us and the tribes who sold it to you. I want the
present boundary line to continue. Should you cross it, I assure
you it will be productive of bad consequences."
The next day the Governor, attended only by his interpreter,
visited the camp of the great Shawanee, and in the course of a long
interview told him that the President of the United States would
not acknowledge his claims. "Well," replied the brave warrior,
"as the great chief is to determine the matter, I hope the Great
Spirit will put sense enough into his head to induce him to direct
you to give up this land. It is true, he is so far off he will not be
V
l)± HISTORY OF IN'DIANA.
injured by the war. He may sit still in Lis town and drink his
wine, while you and I will have to fight it out."
In his message to the new territorial Legislature in 1810 Gov.
Harrison called attentioifto the dangerous views held byTecumseh
and the Prophet, to the pernicious influence of alien enemies
among the Indians, to the unsettled condition of the Indian trade
and to the policy of extinguishing Indian titles to lands. The
eastern settlements were separated from the western by a consider-
able extent of Indian lands, and the most fertile tracts within the
territory were still in the hands of the Indians. Almost entirely
divested of the game from which they had drawn their subsistence,
it had become of little use to them; and it was the intention of
the Government to substitute for the precarious and scanty sup-
plies of the chase the more certain and plentiful support of agri-
culture and stock-raising. The old habit of the Indians to hunt
so long as a deer could be found was so inveterate that they would
not break it and resort to intelligent agriculture unless they were
compelled to, and to this they would not be compelled unless they
were confined to a limited extent of territory. The earnest lan-
guage of the Governor's appeal was like this: "Are then those
extinguishments of native title which are at once so beneficial to
the Indian and the territory of the United States, to be suspended on
account of the intrigues of a few individuals? Is one of the fair-
est portions of the globe to remain in a state of nature, the haunt
of a few wretched savages, when it seems destined by the Creator
to give support to a large population, and to be the seat of civili-
zation, of science and true religion?"
In the same message the Governor also urged the establishment
of a system of popular education.
Among the acts passed by this session of the Legislature, one
authorized the President and Directors of the Vincennes Public
Library to raise §1,000 by lottery. Also, a petition was sent to
Congress for a permanent seat of government for the Territory, and
commissioners were appointed to select the site.
With the beginning of the year 1811 the British agent for
Indian affairs adopted measures calculated to secure the support of
the savages in the war which at this time seemed almost inevitable.
Meanwhile Gov. Harrison did all in his power to destroy the influ-
ence of Tecnmseh and his brother and break up the Indian confed-
eracy which was oeing organized in the interests of Great Britain.
Pioneer settlers and the Indians naturally grew more and more
HISTORY OF INDIANA. 95
aggressive and intolerant, committing depredations and murders,
until the Governor felt compelled to send the following speech,
substantially, to the two leaders of the Indian tribes: "This is the
third year that all the white people in this country have been
alarmed at your proceedings; you threaten us with war; you invite
all the tribes north and west of you to join against us, while your
warriors who have lately been here deny this. The tribes on the
Mississippi have sent me word that you intended to murder me
and then commence a war upon my people, and your seizing the salt
I recently sent up the Wabash is also sufficient evidence of such
intentions on your part. My warriors are preparing themselves,
not to strike you, but to defend themselves and their women and
children. You shall not surprise us, as you expect to do. Your
intended act is a rash one: consider well of it. What can induce
you to undertake such a thing when there is so little prospect of
success? Do you really think that the handful of men you have
about you are able to contend with the seventeen 'fires?' or even
that the whole of the tribes united could contend against the Ken-
tucky 'fire' alone? I am myself of the Long 'Knife fire.' As soon
as they hear my voice you will see them pouring forth their swarms
of hunting-shirt men as numerous as the musquitoes on the shores
of the Wabash. Take care of their stings. It is not our wish to
hurt you; if we did, we certainly have power to do it.
" You have also insulted the Government of the United States,
by seizing the salt that was intended for other tribes. Satisfaction
must be given for that also. You talk of coming to see me, attend-
ed by all of your young men; but this must not be. If your inten-
tions are good, you have no need to bring but a few of your young
men with you. I must be plain with you. I will not suffer you
to come into our settlements with such a force. My advice is that
you visit the President of the United States and lay your griev-
ances before him.
" With respect to the lands that were purchased last fall I can
enter into no negotiations with you; the affair is with the Presi-
dent. If yon wish to go and see him, I will supply you with the
means.
"The person who delivers this is one of my war officers, and is a
man in whom I have entire confidence; whatever he says to you,
although it may not be contained in this paper, you may believe
comes from me. My friend Tecum sell, the bearer is a good man
and a brave warrior; I hope you will treat him well. You are
96 HISTORY OF INDIANA.
yourself a warrior, and all such should have esteem for each other."
The bearer of this speech was politely received by Tecumseh,
who replied to the Governor briefly that he should visit Vincennes
in a few days. Accordingly he arrived July 27, 1811, bringing
with him a considerable force of Indians, which created much
alarm among the inhabitants. In view of an emergency Gov.
Harrison reviewed his militia — about 750 armed men — and station-
ed two companies and a detachment of dragoons on the borders of
the town. At this interview Tecumseh held forth that he intended
no war against the United States; that he would send messengers
among the Indians to prevent murders and depredations on the
white settlements; that the Indians, as well as the whites, who had
committed murders, ought to be forgiven; that he had set the white
people an example of forgiveness, which they ought to follow;
that it was his wish to establish a union among all the Indian
tribes; that the northern tribes were united; that he was going to
visit the southern Indians, and then return to the Prophet's town.
He said also that he would visit the President the next spring and
settle all difficulties with him, and that he hoped no attempts would
be made to make settlements on the lands which had been sold to
the United States, at the treaty of Fort Wayne, because the Indians
wanted to keep those grounds for hunting.
Tecumseh then, with about 20 of his followers, left for the South,
to induce the tribes in that direction to join his confederacy.
By the way, a lawsuit was instituted by Gov. Harrison against a
certain Win. Mcintosh, for asserting that the plaintiff had cheated
the Indians out of their lands, and that, by so doing he had made
them enemies to the United States. The defendant was a wealthy
Scotch resident of Vincennes, well educated, and a man of influence
among the people opposed to Gov. Harrison's land policy. The
jury rendered a verdict in favor of Harrison, assessing the damages
at $4,000. In execution of the decree of Court a large quantity of
the defendant's land was sold in the absence of Gov. Harrison;
but some time afterward Harrison caused about two-thirds of the
land to be restored to Mr. Mcintosh, and the remainder was given
to some orphan children.
Harrison's first movement was to erect a new fort on the Wabash
river and to break up the assemblage of hostile Indians at the
Prophet's town. For this purpose he ordered Col. Boyd's regiment
of infantry to move from the falls of Ohio to Vincennes. When
the military expedition organized by Gov, Harrison was nearly
4
HISTORY OF INDIANA. 97
ready to march to the Prophet's town, several Indian chiefs arrived
at Vincennes Sept. 25, 1811, and declared that the Indians
would comply with the demands of the Governor and disperse; but
this did not check the military proceedings. The army under com-
mand of Harrison moved from "Vincennes Sept. 26, and Oct. 3, en-
countering no opposition from the enemy, encamped at the place
where Fort Harrison was afterward built, and near where the city
of Terre Haute now stands. On the night of the 11th a few hos-
tile Indians approached the encampment and wounded one of the
sentinels, which caused considerable excitement. The army was
immediately drawn up in line of battle, and small detachments
were sent in all directions; but the enemy could not be found.
Then the Governor sent a message to Prophet's Town, requiring
the Shawanees, "Winnebagoes, Pottawatomies and Kickapoos at
that place to return to their respective tribes; he also required the
Prophet to restore all the stolen horses in his possession, or to give
satisfactory proof that such persons were not there, nor had lately
been, under his control. To this message the Governor received
no answer, unless that answer was delivered in the battle of Tip-
pecanoe.
The new fort on the "Wabash was finished Oct. 2S, and at the re-
quest of all the subordinate officers it was called "Fort Harrison,"
near what is now Terre Haute. This fort was garrisoned with a
small number of men under Lieutenant-Colonel Miller. On the
29th the remainder of the army, consisting of 910 men, moved
toward the Prophet's town; about 270 of the troops were mounted.
The regular troops, 250 in number, were under the command of
Col. Boyd. With this army the Governor marched to within a
half mile of the Prophet's town, when a conference was opened
with a distinguished chief, in high esteem with the Prophet, and
he informed Harrison that the Indians were much surprised at the
approach of the army, and had already dispatched a message to
him by another route. Harrison replied that he would not attack
them until he had satisfied himself that they would not comply
with his demands; that he would continue his encampment on the
"Wabash, and on the following morning would have an interview
with the prophet. Harrison then resumed his march, and, after
some difficulty, selected a place to encamp — a spot not very desir-
able. It was a piece of dry oak land rising about ten feet above
the marshy prairie in front toward the Indian town, and nearly
twice that height above a similar prairie in the rear, through which
98 HISTORY OF INDIANA.
and near this bank ran a small stream clothed with willow and
brush wood. Toward the^ left flank this highland widened consid-
erably, but became gradually narrower in the opposite direction,
and at the distance of 150 yards terminated in an abrupt point.
The two columns of infantry occupied the front and rear of this
ground, about 150 yards from each other on the left, and a little
inore thau half that distance on the right, flank. One flank was
filled by two companies of mounted riflemen, 120 men, under com-
mand of Major-General "Wells, of the Kentucky militia, and one
by Spencer's company of mounted riflemen, numbering 80 men.
The front line was composed of one battalion of United States in-
fantry, under command of Major Floyd, flanked on the right by
two companies of militia, and on the left by one company. The
rear line was composed of a battalion of United States troops,
under command of Capt. Bean, acting as Major, and four companies
of militia infantry under Lieutenant-Colonel Decker. The regular
troops of this line joined the mounted riflemen under Gen. Wells,
on the left flank, and Col. Decker's battalion formed an angle with
Spencer's company on the left. Two troops of dragoons, about 60
men in all, were encamped in the rear of the left flank, and Capt.
Parke's troop, which was larger than the other two, in rear of
the right line. For a night attack the order of encampment was
the order of battle, and each man slept opposite his post in the
line. In the formation of the troops single file was adopted, in
order to get as great an extension of the lines as possible.
BATTLE OF TIPPECANOE.
No attack was made by the enemy until about 4 o'clock on the
morning of Nov. 7, just after the Governor had arisen. The
attack was made on the left flank. Only a single gun was fired by the
sentinels or by the guard in that direction, which made no resist-
ance, abandoning their posts and fleeing into camp; and the first
notice which the troops of that line had of the danger was the yell
of the savages within a short distance of them. But the men
were courageous and preserved good discipline. Such of them as
were awake, or easily awakened, seized arms and took their stations;
others, who were more tardy, had to contend with the enemy in
the doors of their tents. The storm first fell upon Capt. Barton's
company of the Fourth United States Regiment, and Capt. Geiger's
company of mounted riflemen, which formed the left angle of the
rear line. The fire from the Indians was exceedingly severe, and
IIISTORr OF INDIANA. 99
men in these companies suffered considerably before relief could be
brought to them. Some few Indians passed into the encampment
near the angle, and one or two penetrated to some distance before
they were killed. All the companies formed for action before they
were fired on, The morning was dark and cloudy, and the fires of
the Americans afforded only a partial light, which gave greater
advantage to the enemy than to the troops, and they were there-
fore extinguished.
As soon as the Governor could mount his horse he rode to the
angle which was attacked, where he found that Barton's company had
suffered severely, and the left of Geiger's entirely broken. He
immediately ordered Cook's and Wentworth's companies to march
up to the center of the rear line, where were stationed a small com-
pany of IT. S. riflemen and the companies of Bean, Snelling and
Prescott. As the General rode up he found Maj. Daviess forming
the dragoons in the rear of these companies, and having ascertained
that the heaviest fire proceeded from some trees 15 or 20 paces in
front of these companies, he directed the Major to dislodge them
with a part of the dragoons; but unfortunately the Major's gal-
lantry caused him to undertake the execution of the order with a
smaller force than was required, which enabled the enemy to avoid
him in front and attack his flanks. He was mortally wounded and
his men driven back. Capt. Snelling, however," with his company
immediately dislodged those Indians. Capt. Spencer and his 1st
and 2nd Lieutenants were killed, and Capt. Warwick mortally
wounded. The soldiery remained brave. Spencer had too much
ground originally, and Harrison re-enforced him with a company
of riflemen which had been driven from their position on the left
flank.
Gen. Harrison's aim was to keep the lines entire, to prevent the
enemy from breaking into the camp until daylight, which would
enable him to make a general and effectual charge. With this view
he had re-enforced every part of the line that had suffered much,
and with the approach of morning he withdrew several companies
from the front and rear lines and re-enforced the right and left
flanks, foreseeing that at these points the enemy would make their
last effort. Maj. Wells, who had commanded the left flank, charged
upon the enemy and drove them at the point of the baj'onet into
the marsh, where they could not be followed. Meanwhile Capt.
Dook and Lieut. Larrabee marched their companies to the right
flank and formed under tire of the euemy, and being there joined
L.ofC.
100 HISTORY OF INDIANA.
by tlie riflemen of that flank, charged upon the enemy, killing a
number and putting the rest to a precipitate flight.
Tims ended the famous battle of Tippecanoe, victoriously to the
■whites and honorably to Gen. Harrison.
In this battle Mr. Harrison had about 700 efficient men, -while
the Indians had probably more than that. The loss of the Ameri-
cans was 37 killed and 25 mortally wounded, and 126 wounded; the
Indians lost 3S killed on the field of battle, and the number of the
wounded was never known. Among the whites killed were Daviess,
Spencer, Owen, Warwick, Randolph, Bean and "White. Standing on
an eminence near by, the Prophet encouraged his warriors to battle
by singing a favorite war-song. He told them that they would gain
an easy victory, and that the bullets of their enemies would be made
harmless by the Great Spirit. Being informed duringthe engagement
that some of the Indians were killed, he said that his warriors must
fight on and they would soon be victorious. Immediately after
their defeat the surviving Indians lost faith in their great (?) Proph-
et, returned to their respective tribes, and thus the confederacy
was destroyed. The Prophet, with a very few followers, then took
np his residence among a small band of Wyandots encamped on
Wild-Cat creek. His famous town, with all its possessions, was
destroyed the next day, Nov. 8.
On the 18th the American army returned to Vincennes, where
most of the troops were discharged. The Territorial Legislature,
being in session, adopted resolutions complimentary to Gov. Harri-
son and the officers and men under him, and made preparations for
a reception and celebration.
Capt. Logan, the eloquent Shawanee chief who assisted onr
forces so materially, died in the latter part of November, lol2,
from the effects of a wound received in a skirmish with a recon-
noitering party of hostile Indians accompanied by a white man in
the British service, Nov. 22. In that skirmish the white man was
killed, and Winamac, a Pottawatomie chief of some distinction,
fell by the rifle of Logan. The latter was mortally wounded, when
he retreated with two warriors of his tribe, Capt. Johnny and
Bright- Horn, to the camp of Gen. Winchester, where he soon after-
ward died. He was buried witli the honors of war.
WAR OF 1812 WITH GREAT BRITAIN.
The victory recently gained by the Americans at the battle of
Tippecanoe insured perfect peace for a time, but only a short time
as the more extensive schemes of the British had so far ripened as
to compel the United States again to declare war against them.
Tecumseh had fled to Maiden, Canada, where, counseled by the
English, he continued to excite the tribes against the Americans.
As soon as this war with Great Britain was declared (June 18,
1812), the Indians, as was expected, commenced again to commit
depredations. During the summer of 1812 several points along
the Lake Region succumbed to theBritish, as Detroit, under Gen.
Hull, Fort Dearborn (now Chicago), commanded by Capt. Heald
under Gen. Hull, the post at Mackinac, etc.
In the early part of September, 1812, parties of hostile Indians
began to assemble in considerable numbers in the vicinity of Forts
"Wayne and Harrison, with a view to 'reducing them. Capt. Rhea,
at this time, had command of Fort Wajme, but his drinking pro-
pensities rather disqualified him for emergencies. For two weeks
the fort was in great jeopardy. An express had been sent to Gen.
Harrison for reinforcements, but many days passed without any
tidings of expected assistance. At length, one day, Maj. Win.
Oliver and four friendly Indians arrived at the fort on horseback.
One of the Indians was the celebrated Logan. They had come in
defiance of " 500 Indians," had "broken their ranks" and reached
the fort in safety. Oliver reported that Harrison was aware of the
situation and was raising'men for a re-enforcement. Ohio was also
raising volunteers; 800 were then assembled at St. Mary's, Ohio,
60 miles south of Fort Wayne, and would march to the relief of
the fort in three or four days, or as soon as they were joined by re-
enforcements from Kentucky.
Oliver prepared a letter, announcing to Gen. Harrison his safe ar-
rival at the besieged fort, and giving an account of its beleaguered
situation, which he dispatched by his friendly Shawanees, while he
concluded to take his chances at the fort. Brave Logan and his
companions started with the message, but had scarcely left the fort
when they were discovered and pursued by the hostile Indians, yet
passing the Indian lines in safety, they were soon out of reach.
The Indians now began a furious attack upon the fort; but the little
garrison, with Oliver to cheer them on, bravely met the assault, re-
pelling the attack day after day, until the army approached to their
relief. During this siege the commanding officer, whose habits of
aon
102 HISTORY OF INDIANA.
intemperance rendered him unfit for the command, was confined in
the " black hole," while the junior officer assumed charge. This
course was approved by 4^he General, on his arrival, but Capt. Rhea
received very little censure, probably on account of his valuable ser-
vices in the Revolutionary war.
Sept. 6, 1S12, Harrison moved forward with his army to the re-
lief of Fort Wayne; the next day he reached a point within three
miles of St. Mary's river; the next day he reached the river and
was joined at evening by 200 mounted volunteers, under Col. Rich-
ard M. Johnson; the next day at "Shane's Crossing" on the St.
Mary's they were joined by 800 men from Ohio, under Cols. Adams
and Hawkins. At this place Chief Logan and four other Indians
offered their services as spies to Gen. Harrison, and were accepted.
Logan was immediately disguised and sent forward. Passing
through the lines of the hostile Indians,he ascertained their number
to be about 1.500, and entering the fort, he encouraged the soldiers
to hold out, as relief was at hand. Gen. Harrison's force at this
time was about 3,500.
After an early breakfast Friday morning they were under march-
ing orders; it had rained and the guns were damp; they were dis-
charged and reloaded; but that day only one Indian was encount-
ered; preparations were made at night for an expected attack by
the Indians, but no attack came; the next day, Sept. 10, they ex-
pected to fight their way to Fort Wayne, but in that they were hap-
pily disappointed; and "At the first grey of the morning," as Bryce
eloquently observes, "the distant halloos of the disappointed sav-
ages revealed to the anxious inmates of the fort the glorious news
of the approach of the army. Great clouds of dust could be seen
from the fort, rolling up in the distance, as the valiant soldiery
under Gen. Harrison moved forward to the rescue of the garrison
and the brave boys of Kentucky and Ohio."
This siege of Fort Wayne of course* occasioned great loss to the
few settlers who had gathered around the fort. At the time of its
commencement quite a little village had clustered around the mili-
tary works, but during the siege most of their improvements and
crops were destroyed by the savages. Every building out of the reach,
of the guns of the fort was leveled to the ground, and thus the in-
fant settlement was destroyed.
During this siege the garrison lost but three men, while the
Indians lost 25. Gen. Harrison had all the Indian villages for 25
miles around destroyed. Fort Wayne was nothing but a military
post until about 1S19.
HISTORY OF INDIANA. 103
Simultaneously with the attack on Fort Wayne the Indians also
besieged Fort Harrison, which was commanded by Zachary Taylor.
The Indians commenced firing upon the fort about 11 o'clock one
night, when the garrison was in a rather poor plight for receiving
them. The enemy succeeded in firing one of the block-houses,
which contained whisky, and the whites had great difficulty in pre-
venting the burning of all the barracks. The word " fire " seemed
to have thrown all the men into confusion; soldiers' and citizens'
wives, who had taken shelter within the fort, were crying; Indians
were yelling; many of the garrison were sick and unable to be on
duty; the men despaired and gave themselves up as lost; two of
the strongest and apparently most reliable men jumped the pickets
in the very midst of the emergency, etc., so that Capt. Taylor was
at his wit's end what to do; but he gave directions as to the many
details, rallied the men by a new scheme, and after about seven
hours succeeded in saving themselves. The Indians drove up the
horses belonging to the citizens, and as they could not catch th^m
very readily, shot the whole of them in the sight of their owners,
and also killed a number of the hogs belonging to the whites.
They drove off all of the cattle, 65 in number, as well as the public
oxen.
Among many other depredations committed by the savages dur-
ing this period, was the massacre of the Pigeon Roost settlement,
consisting of one man, five women and 16 children; a few escaped.
An unsuccessful effort was made to capture these Indians, but
when the news of this massacre and the attack on Fort Harrison
reached Vincennes, about 1,200 men, under the command of Col.
Win. Russell, of the 7th U. S. Infantry, marched forth for the re-
lief of the fort and to punish the Indians. On reaching the fort
the Indians had retired from the vicinity; but on the 15th of Sep-
tember a small detachment composed of 11 men, under Lieut. Rich-
ardson, and acting as escort of provisions sent from Vincennes to
Fort Harrison, was attacked by a party of Indians within the pres-
ent limits of Sullivan county. It was reported that seven of these
men were killed and one wounded. The provisions of course fell
into the hands of the Indians.
EXPEDITIONS AGAINST THE INDIANS.
By the middle of August, through the disgraceful surrender of
Gen. Hull, at Detroit, and the evacuation of Fort Dearborn and
massacre of its garrison, the British and Indians were in possession
of the whole Northwest. The savages, emboldened by their sue-
104 HISTORY OF INDIANA..
cesses, penetrated deeper into the settlements, committing great
depredations. The activity and success of the enemy aroused the
people to a realization of the great danger their homes and families
were in. Gov. Edwards collected a force of 350 men at Camp
Russell, and Capt. Russell came from Vincennes with about 50 more.
Being officered and equipped, they proceeded about the middle of
October on horseback, carrying with them 20 day's rations, to
Peoria. Capt. Craig was sent with two boats up the Illinois, with
provisions and tools to build a fort. The little army proceeded to
Peoria Lake, where was located a Pottawatomie village. They
arrived late at night, within a few miles of the village, without
their presence being known to the Indians. Four men were sent
out that night to reconnoiter the position of the village. The four
brave men who volunteered for this perilous service were Thomas
Carlin (afterward Governor), and Robert, Stephen and Davis White-
side. They proceeded to the village, and explored it and the ap-
proaches to it thoroughly, without starting an Indian or provoking
the bark of a dog. The low lands between the Indian village and
the troops were covered with a rank growth of tall grass, so high
and dense as to readily conceal an Indian on horseback, until within
a few feet of him. The ground had become still more yielding by
recent rains, rendering it almost impassable by mounted men. To
prevent detection the soldiers had camped without lighting the
usual camp-fires. The men lay down in their cold and cheerless
camp, with many misgivings. They well remembered how the
skulking savages fell upon Harrison's men at Tippecanoe during
the night. To add to their fears, a gun in the hands of a soldier
was carelessly discharged, raising great consternation in the camp.
Through a dense fog which prevailed the following morning, the
army took up its line of march for the Indian town, Capt. Judy
with his corps of spies in advance. In the tall grass they came up
with an Indian and his squaw, both mounted. The Indian wanted
to surrender, but Judy observed that he " did not leave home to take
prisoners," and instantly shot one of them. With the blood
streaming from his mouth and nose, and in his agony " singing the
death song," the dying Indian raised his gun, shot and mortally
wounded a Mr. Wright, and in a few minutes expired! Many guns
were immediately discbarged at the other Indian, not then known
to be a squaw, all of which missed her. Badly scared, and her hus-
band killed by her side, the agonizing wails of the squaw were
heart-rending. She was taken prisoner, and afterward restored
to her nation.
HIST0KY OF INDIANA. 105
On nearing the town a general charge was made, the Indians
fleeing to the interior wilderness. Some of their warriors made a
stand, when a sharp engagement occurred, but the Indians were
routed. In their flight they left behind all their winter's store of
provisions, which was taken, and their town burned. Some Indian
children were found who had been left in the hurried flight, also
some disabled adults, one of whom was in a starving condition, and
with a voracious appetite partook of the bread given him. He is
said to have been killed by a cowardly trooper straggling behind,
after the main army had resumed its retrograde march, who wanted
to be able to boast that he had killed an Indian.
September 19, 1812, Gen. Harrison was put in command of the
Northwestern army, then estimated at 10,000 men, with these
orders: "Having provided for the protection of the western front-
ier, you will retake Detroit; and, with a view to the conquest of
upper Canada, you will penetrate that country as far as the force
under your command will in your judgment justify."
Although surrounded by many difficulties, the General began
immediately to execute these instructions. In calling for volun-
teers from Kentucky, however, more men offered than could be
received. At this time there were about 2,000 mounted volunteers
at Vincennes, under the command of Gen. Samuel Hopkins, of the
Revolutionary war, who was under instructions to operate against
the enemy along the Wabash and Illinois rivers. Accordingly,
early in October, Gen. Hopkins moved from Vincennes towards the
Kickapoo villages in the Illinois territory, with about 2,000 troops;
but after four or five days' march the men and officers raised a
mutiny which gradually succeeded in carrying all back to Vin-
cennes. The cause of their discontent is not apparent.
About the same time Col. Russell, with two small companies of
U. S. rangers, commanded by Capts. Perry and Modrell, marched
from the neighborhood of Vincennes to unite with a small force of
mounted militia under the command of Gov. Edwards, of Illinois,
and afterward to march with the united troops from Cahokia
toward Lake Peoria, for the purpose of co operating with Gen.
Hopkins against the Indian towns in that vicinity; but not find-
ing the latter on the ground, was compelled to retire.
Immediately after the discharge of the mutinous volunteers,
Gen. Hopkins began to organize another force, mainly of infantry,
to reduce the Indians up the Wabash as far as the Prophet's town.
These troops consisted of three regiments of Kentucky militia,
100 HISTORY OF INDIANA.
commanded by Cols. Barbour, Miller and Wilcox; a small company
of regulars commanded by Capt. Zachary Taylor; a company of
rangers commanded by Qapt. Beckes; and a company of scouts or
spies under the command of Capt. Washburn. The main body of
this army arrived at Fort Harrison Nov. 5; on the 11th it pro-
ceeded up the east side of the Wabash into the heart of the Indian
country, but found the villages generally deserted. Winter set-
ting in severely, and the troops poorly clad, they had to return to
Vincennes as rapidly as possible. With one exception the men
behaved nobly, and did much damage to the enemy. That
exception was the precipitate chase after an Indian by a detach-
ment of men somewhat in liquor, until they found themselves sur-
rounded by an overwhelming force of the enemy, and they had to
retreat in disorder.
At the close of this campaign Gen. Hopkins resigned his
command.
In the fall of 1812 Gen. Harrison assigned to Lieut. Col. John
B. Campbell, of the 19th U. S. Inf., the duty of destroying the
Miami villages on the Mississinewa river, with a detachment of
about 600 men. Nov. 25, Lieut. Col. Campbell marched from
Franklinton, according to orders, toward the scene of action, cau-
tiously avoiding falling in with the Delawares, who had been ordered
by Gen. Harrison to retire to the Shawanee establishment on the
Auglaize river, and arriving on the Mississinewa Dec. 17, when
they discovered an Indian town inhabited by Delawares and
Miamis This and three other villages were destroyed. Soon
after this, the supplies growing short and the troops in a suffering
condition, Campbell began to consider the propriety of returning
to Ohio; but just as he was*calling together his officers early one
morning to deliberate on the proposition, an army of Indians
rushed upon them with fury. The engagement lasted an hour,
with a loss of eight killed and 42 wounded, besides about 150 horses
killed. The whites, however, succeeded in defending themselves
and taking a number of Indians prisoners, who proved to be Mun-
sies, of Silver Heel's band. Campbell, hearing that a large force
of Indians were assembled at Mississinewa village, under Tecum-
seh, determined to return to Greenville. The privations of his
troops and the severity of the cold compelled him to send to that
place for re-enforcements and supplies. Seventeen of the men had
to be carried on litters. They were met by the re-enforcement
about 40 miles from Greenville.
HISTORY OF INDIANA. 107
Lieut. Col. Campbell sent two messages to the Delawares, who
lived on White river and who had been previously directed and
requested to abandon their towns on that river and remove into
Ohio. In these messages he expressed his regret at unfortunately
killing some of their men, and urged them to move to the Shaw-
anee settlement on the Auglaize river. He assured them that their
people, in his power, would be compensated by the Government
for their losses, if not found to be hostile; and the friends of those
killed satisfied by presents, if such satisfaction would be received.
This advice was heeded by the main body of the Delawares and a
few Miamis. The Shawanee Prophet, and some of the principal
chiefs of the Miamis, retired from the country of the Wabash, and,
with their destitute and suffering bands, moved to Detroit, where
they were received as the friends and allies of Great Britain.
On the approach of Gen. Harrison with his army in September,
1S13, the British evacuated Detroit, and the Ottawas, Chippewas,
Pottawatomies, Miamis and Kickapoos sued for peace with the
United States, which was granted temporarily by Brig. Gen. Mc-
Arthur, on condition of their becoming allies of the United States
in case of war.
In June, 1813, an expedition composed of 137 men, under com-
mand of Col. Joseph Bartholomew, moved from Valonia toward
the Delaware towns on the west fork of White river, to surprise
and punish some hostile Indians who were supposed to be lurking
about those villages. Most of these places they found deserted;
some of them burnt. They had been but temporarily occupied for
the purpose of collecting and carrying away corn. Col. Bartholo-
mew's forces succeeded in killing one or two Indians and destroy-
ing considerable corn, and they returned to Valonia on the 21st of
this month.
July 1, 1813, Col. William Russell, of the 7th U. S., organized
a force of 573 effective men at Valonia and marched to the Indian
villages about the mouth of the Mississinewa. His experience was
much like that of Col. Bartholomew, who had just preceded him.
He had rainy weather, suffered many losses, found the villages de-
serted, destroyed stores of corn, etc. The Colonel reported that he
went to every place where he expected to find the enemy, but they
nearly always seemed to have fled the country. The march from
Valonia to the mouth of the Mississinewa and return was about
250 miles.
Several smaller expeditions helped to "checker" the surrounding
108 HISTORY OF INDIANA.
country, and find that the Indians were very careful to keep them-
selves out of sight, and thus closed this series of campaigns.
CLOSE OF THE WAS.
The war with England closed on the 24th of December, 1814,
when a treaty of peace was signed at Ghent. The 9th article of
the treaty required the United States to put an end to hostilities
with all tribes or nations of Indians with whom they had been at
war; to restore to such tribes or nations respectively all the rights
and possessions to which they were entitled in 1811, before the
war, on condition that such Indians should agree to desist from all
hostilities against the United States. But in February, just before
the treaty was sanctioned by our Government, there were signs of
Indians accumulating arms and ammunition, and a cautionary
order was therefore issued to have all the white forces in readiness
for an attack by the Indians; but the attack was not made. During
the ensuing summer and fall the United States Government ac-
quainted the Indians with the provisions of the treaty, and entered
into subordinate treaties of peace with the principal tribes.
Just before the treaty of Spring Wells (near Detroit) was signed,
the Shawanee Prophet retired to Canada, but declaring his resolu-
tion to abide by any treaty which the chiefs might sign. Some
time afterward he returned to the Shawanee settlement in Ohio, and
lastly to the west of the Mississippi, where he died, in 1S34. The
British Government allowed him a pension from 1S13 until his
death. llis brother Tecumseh was killed at the battle of the
Thames, Oct. 5, 1813, by a Mr. Wheatty, as we are positively in-
formed by Mr. A. J. James, now a resident of La Harpe township,
Hancock county, 111., whose father-in-law, John Pigman, of Co-
shocton county, Ohio, was an eye witness. Gen. Johnson has gener-
ally had the credit of killing Tecumseh.
XECUHSEH.
'
TECUMSEH.
If one should inquire who has been the greatest Indian, the most
noted, the "principal Indian " in North America since its discov-
ery by Columbus, we would be obliged to answer, Tecumseh. For
all those qualities which elevate a man far above his race; for talent,
tact, skill and bravery as a warrior; for high-minded, honorable and
chivalrous bearing as a man; in a word, for all those elements of
greatness which place him a long way above his fellows in savage
life, the name and fame of Tecnmseh will go down to posterity in
the West as one of the most celebrated of the aborigines of this
continent, — as one who had no equal among the tribes that dwelt
in the country drained by the Mississippi. Born to command him-
self, he used all the appliances that would stimulate the courage
and nerve the valor of his followers. Always in the front rank of
battle, his followers blindly followed his lead, and as his war-cry
rang clear above the din and noise of the battle-field, the Shawnee
warriors, as they rushed on to victory or the grave, rallied around
him, foemen worthy of the steel of the most gallant commander
that ever entered the lists in defense of his altar or his home.
The tribe to winch Tecumseh, or Tecumtha, as some write it, be-
longed, was the Shawnee, or Shawanee. The tradition of the nation
held that they originally came from the Gulf of Mexico; that they
wended their way up the Mississippi and the Ohio, and settled at
or near the present site of Shawneetown, 111., whence they removed
to the upper Wabash. In the latter place, at any rate, they were
found early in the 18th century, and were known as the "bravest
of the brave." This tribe has uniformly been the bitter enemy of
the white man, and in every contest with our people has exhibited
a degree of skill and strategy that should characterize the most
dangerous foe.
Tecumseh's notoriety and that of his brother, the Prophet, mutu-
ally served to establish and strengthen each other. While the
Prophet had unlimited power, spiritual and temporal, he distributed
his greatness in all the departments of Indian life with a kind of
fanaticism that- magnetically aroused the religious and superstitious
passions, not only of his own followers, but also of all the tribes in
(ill)
112 HISTORY OF INDIANA.
this part of the country; but Tecuraseh concentrated his greatness
upon tbe more practical and business affairs of military conquest.
It is doubted whether ht^was really a sincere believer in the preten-
sions of his fanatic brother; if he did not believe in the pretentious
feature of them he had the shrewdness to keep his unbelief to him-
self, knowing that religious fanaticism was ODe of the strongest im-
pulses to reckless bravery.
During his sojourn in the North western Territory, it was Tecum-
seh's uppermost desire of life to confederate all the Indian tribes of
the country together against the whites, to maintain their choice
hunting-grounds. All his public policy converged toward this sin-
gle end. In his vast scheme he comprised even all the Indians in
the Gulf country, — all in America west of the Alleghany moun-
tains. He held, as a subordinate principle, that the Great Spirit
had given the Indian race all these hunting-grounds to keep in
common, and that no Indian or tribe could cede any portion of the
land to the whites without the consent of all the tribes. Hence, in
all his councils with the whites he ever maintained that the treaties
were null and void.
When he met Harrison at Vincennes in council the last time,
and, as he was invited by that General to take a seat with him on
the platform, he hesitated; Harrison insisted, saying that it was the
"wish of their Great Father, the President of the United States,
that he should do so." The chief paused a moment, raised his tall
and commanding form to its greatest height, surveyed the troops
and crowd around him, fixed his keen e} r es upon Gov. Harrison,
and then turning them to the sky above, and pointing toward
heaven with his sinewy arm in a manner indicative of supreme
contempt for the paternity assigned him, said in clarion tones: " My
father? The sun is my father, the earth is my mother, and on her
bosom I will recline." He then stretched himself, with his war-
riors, on the green sward. The effect was electrical, and for some
moments there was perfect silence.
The Governor, then, through an interpreter, told him that he un-
derstood he had some complaints to make and redress to ask, etc.,
and that he wished to investigate the matter and make restitution
wherever it might be decided it should be done. As soon as the
Governor was through with this introductory speech, the stately
warrior arose, tall, athletic, manly, dignified and graceful, and with
a voice at first low, but distinct and musical, commenced a reply.
As he warmed up with his subject his clear tones might be heard,
HISTORY OF INDIANA. 113
as if " trumpet-tongued," to the utmost limits of the assembly.
The most perfect silence prevailed, except when his warriors gave
their guttural assent to some eloquent recital of the red man's
wrong and the white man's injustice. Tecumseh recited the wrongs
which his race had suffered from che time of the massacre of the
Moravian Indians to the present; said he did not know how he
could ever again be the friend of the white man; that the Great
Spirit had given to the Indian all the land from the Miami to the
Mississippi, and from the lakes to the Ohio, as a common property
to all the tribes in these borders, and that the land could not and
should not be sold without the consent of all; that all the tribes on
the continent formed but one nation; that if the United States
would not give up the lands they had bought of the Miamis and
the other tribes, those united with him were determined to annihi-
late those tribes; that they were determined to have no more chiefs,
but in future to be governed by their warriors; that unless the
whites ceased their encroachments upon Indian lands, the fate of
the Indians was sealed; they had been driven from the banks of
the Delaware across the Alleghanies, and their possessions on the
Wabash and the Illinois were now to be taken from them; that in
a few years they would not have ground enough to bury their war-
riors on this side of the "Father of Waters;" that all would perish,
all their possessions taken from them by fraud or force, unless they
stopped the progress of the white man westward; that it must be
a war of races in which one or the other must perish; that their
xribes had been driven toward the setting sun like a galloping
horse (ne-kat a-kusk-e ka-top-o-lin-to).
The Shawnee language, in which this most eminent Indian states-
man spoke, excelled all other aboriginal tongues in its musical ar-
ticulation; and the effect of Tecumseh's oratory on this occasion
can be more easily imagined than described. Gov. Harrison,
although as brave a soldier and General as any American, was over-
come by this speech. He well knew Tecumseh's power and influ-
ence among all the tribes, knew his bravery, courage and determi-
nation, and knew that he meant what he said. When Tecumseh
was done speaking there was a stillness throughout the assembly
which was really painful ; not a whisper was heard, and all eyes were
turned from the speaker toward Gov. Harrison, who after a few
moments came to himself, and recollecting many of the absurd
statements of the great Indian orator, began a reply which was
more logical, if not so eloquent. The Shawnees were attentive un-
Hi HISTORY OF INDIANA.
til Harrison's interpreter began to translate his speech to the Mia-
mis and Pottawatomies, when Tecumseh and his warriors sprang
to their feet, brandishing^ their war-clubs and tomahawks. "Tell
him," said Tecumseh, addressing the interpreter in Shawnee, " he
lies." The interpreter undertook to convey this message to the
Governor in smoother language, but Tecumseh noticed the effort
and remonstrated, " No, no; tell him belies." The warriors began
to grow more excited, when Secretary Gibson ordered the Ameri-
can troops in arms to advance. This allayed the rising storm, and
as soon as Tecumseh's " He lies " was literally interpreted to the
Governor, the latter told Tecumseh through the interpreter to tell
Tecumseh he would hold no further council with him.
Thus the assembly was broken up, and one can hardly imagine a
more exciting scene. It would constitute the finest subject for a
historical painting to adorn the rotunda of the capitol. The next
day Tecumseh requested another interview with the Governor,
which was granted on condition that he should make an apology to
the Governor for his language the day before. This be made
through the interpreter. Measures for defense and protection were
taken, however, lest there should be another outbreak. Two com-
panies of militia were ordered from the country, and the one in
town added to them, while the Governor and his friends went into
council fully armed and prepared for any contingency. On this oc-
casion the conduct of Tecumseh was entirely different from that of
the day before. Firm and intrepid, showing not the slightest fear
or alarm, surrounded with a military force four times his own, he
preserved the utmost composure and equanimity. No one would
have supposed that he could have been the principal actor in the
thrilling scene of the previous day. He claimed that half the
Americans were in sympathy with him. He also said that whites
had informed him that Gov. Harrison had purchased land from the
Indians without any authority from the Government; that he,
Harrison, had but two years more to remain in office, and that if
he, Tecumseh, could prevail upon the Indians who sold the lands
not to receive their annuities for that time, and the present Gover-
nor displaced by a good man as his successor, the latter would re-
store to the Indians all the lands purchased from them.
The Wyandots, Kickapoos, Pottawatomies, Ottawas and the "Wm-
nebagoes, through their respective spokesmen, declared their
adherence to the great Shawnee warrior and statesman. Gov. Harri-
son then told them that he would send Tecumseh's speech to thePresi-
IIISTOETOF INDIANA. 115
dent of the United States and return the answer to the Indians as soon
as it was received. Tecnmseh then declared that he and his allies were
determined that the old boundary line should continue; and that
if the whites crossed it, it would be at their peril. Gov. Harrison re-
plied that he would be equally plain with him and state that the
President would never allow that the lands on the Wabash were the
property of any other tribes than those who had occupied them
since the white people first came to America; and as the title to
the lands lately purchased was derived from those tribes by a fair
purchase, he might rest assured that the right of the United States
would be supported by the sword. " So be it," was the stern and
haughty reply of the Shawnee chieftan, as he and his braves took
leave of the Governor and wended their way in Indian file to their
camping ground.
Thus ended the last conference on earth between the chivalrous
Tecumseh and the hero of the battle of Tippecanoe. The bones of
the first lie bleaching on the battle-field of the Thames, and those
of the last in a mausoleum on the banks of the Ohio; each strug-
gled for the mastery of his race, apd each no doubt was equally
honest and patriotic in his purposes. The weak yielded to the
strong, the defenseless to the powerful, and the hunting-ground of
the Shawnee is all occupied by his enemy.
Tecumseh, with four of his braves, immediately embarked in a
birch canoe, descended the Wabash, and went on to the South to
unite the tribes of that country in a general system of self-defense
against the encroachment of the whites. His emblem was a dis-
jointed snake, with the motto, "Join or die!" In union alone was
strength.
Before Tecumseh left the Prophet's town at the mouth of the
Tippecanoe river, on his excursion to the South, he had a definite
understanding with his brother and the chieftains of the other tribes
in the Wabash country, that they should preserve perfect peace
with the whites until his arrangements were completed for a con-
federacy of the tribes on both sides of the Ohio and on the Missis-
sippi river; but it seems that while he was in the South engaged
in his work of uniting the tribes of that country some of the North-
ern tribes showed signs of fight and precipitated Harrison into that
campaign which ended in the battle of Tippecanoe and the total
route of the Indians. Tecumseh, on his return from the South,
learning what had happened, was overcome with chagrin, disappoint-
ment and anger, and accused his brother of duplicity and coward-
116 HISTORY OF INDIANA.
ice; indeed, it is said that he never forgave him to the day of his
death. A short time afterward, on the breaking out of the war of
Great Britain, he joineti Proctor, at Maiden, with a party of his
warriors, and finally suffered the fate mentioned on page 108.
CIVIL MATTERS lS12-'5.
Owing to the absence of Gov. Harrison on military duty, John
Gibson, the Secretary of the Territory, acted in the administration
of civil affairs. In his message to the Legislature convening on the
1st of February, 1813, he said, substantially:
"Did I possess the abilities of Cicero or Demosthenes, I could
not portray in more glowing colors our foreign and domestic politi-
cal situation than it is already experienced within our own breasts.
The United States have been compelled, by frequent acts of injus-
tice, to declare war against England. For a detail of the causes of
this war I would refer to the message of President Madison; it
does honor to his head and heart. Although not au admirer of
war, I am glad to see our little but inimitable navy riding triumph-
ant on the seas, but chagrined to find that our armies by land are
so little successful. The spirit of '76 appears to have fled from our
continent, or, if not fled, is at least asleep, for it appears not to
pervade our armies generally. At your last assemblage our politi-
cal horizon seemed clear, and our infant Territory bid fair for rapid
and rising grandeur; but, alas, the scene has changed; and whether
this change, as respects our Territory, has been owing to an over
anxiety in us to extend our dominions, or to a wish for retaliation
by our foes, or to a foreign influence, I shall not say. The Indians,
our former neighbors and friends, have become our most inveterate
foes. Our former frontiers are now our wilds, and our inner settle-
ments have become frontiers. Some of our best citizens, and old
men worn down with age, and helpless women and innocent
babes, have fallen victims to savage cruelty. I have done my duty
as well as I can, and hope that the interposition of Providence will
protect us."
The many complaints made about the Territorial Government
Mr. Gibson said, were caused more by default of officers than of the
law. Said he: "It is an old and, I believe, correct adage, that
* good officers make good soldiers.' This evil having taken root, I do
not know how it can be eradicated; but it may be remedied. In
place of men searching after and accepting commissions before they
HISTORY OF INDIANA. 117
are even tolerably qualified, thereby subjecting themselves to ridi-
cule and their country to ruin, barely for the name of the thing, I
think may be remedied by a previous examination."
During this session of the Legislature the seat of the Territorial
Government was declared to be at Corydon, and immediately acting
Governor Gibson prorogued the Legislature to meet at that place,
the first Monday of December, 1813. During this 3 r ear the Terri-
tory was almost defenseless; Indian outrages were of common
occurrence, but no general outbreak was made. The militia-men
were armed with rifles and long knives, and many of the rangers
carried tomahawks.
In 1813 Thomas Posey, who was at that time a Senator in Con-
gress from Tennessee, and who had been officer of the army of the
Revolution, was appointed Governor of Indiana Territory, to suc-
ceed Gen. Harrison. He arrived in Vincennes and entered upon
the discharge of his duties May 25, 1813. During this year several
expeditions against the Indian settlements were set on foot.
In his first message to the Legislature the following December,
at Corydon, Gov. Posey said: "The present crisis is awful, and big
with great events. Our land and nation is involved in the common
calamity of war; but we are under the protecting care of the benefi-
cent Being, who has on a former occasion brought us safely through
an arduous struggle and placed us on a foundation of independence,
freedom and happiness. He will not suffer to be taken from us
what He, in His great wisdom has thought proper to confer and
bless us with, if we make a wise and virtuous use of His good
gifts. * * * Although our affairs, at the commencement of
the war, wore a gloomy aspect, they have brightened, and promise
a certainty of success, if properly directed and conducted, of which
I have no doubt, as the President and heads of departments of the
general Government are men of undoubted patriotism, talents and
experience, and who have grown old in the service of their country.
* * * It must be obvious to every thinking man that we were
forced into the war. Every measure consistent with honor, both
before and since the declaration of war, has tried to be on amicable
terms with our enemy, * * * You who reside in various parts
of the Territory have it in your power to understand what will tend
to its local and general advantage. The judiciary system would
require a revisal and amendment. The militia law is very defective
and requires your immediate attention. It is necessary to have
IIS HISTORY OF INDIANA.
good roads and highways in as many directions through the Terri-
tory as the circumstances and situation of the inhabitants will
admit; it would contribute very much to promote the settlement
and improvement of the Territory. Attention to education is highly
necessary. There is an appropriation made by Congress, in lands,
for the purpose of establishing public schools. It conies now with-
in your province to carry into operation the design of the appro-
priation."
This Legislature passed several very necessary laws for the wel-
fare of the settlements, and the following year, as Gen. Harrison
was generally successful in his military campaigns in the North-
west, the settlements in Indiana began to increase and improve.
The fear of danger from Indians had in a great measure subsided,
and the tide of immigration began again to flow. In January,
1814, about a thousand Miamis assembled at Fort Wayne for the
purpose of obtaining food to prevent starvation. They met with
ample hospitality, and their example was speedily followed by
others. These, with other acts of kindness, won the lasting friend-
ship of the Indians, many of whom had fought in the interests of
Great Britain. General treaties between the United States and the
Northwestern tribes were subsequently concluded, and the way
was fully opened for the improvement and settlement of the lands.
population in 1815.
The population of the Territory of Indiana, as given in the
official returns to the Legislature of 1815, was as follows, by
counties:
COUNTIES. White males of 21 and over. TOTAL."
Wayne 1,225 6,407
Franklin 1,430 7.370
Dearborn 902 4,424
Switzerland 377 1,833
Jefferson-" 874 .. 4,270
Clark 1,387 7,150
Washington 1,420 7,317
Harrison 1,056 6,975
Knox 1,391 , ■ 8
Gibson 1.100 5.3 o
Posey 320 1,619
Warrick 280 1.415
Perry 350 1.720
Grand Totals 12,112 63.897
GENERAL VIEW.
The well-known ordinance of 1 1ST conferred many " rights and
privileges " upon the inhabitants of the Northwestern Territory, and
HISTORY OF INDIANA. 119
consequently upon the people of Indiana Territory, but after all it
came far short of conferring as many privileges as are enjoyed at
the present day by our Territories. They did not have a full form
of Republican government. A freehold estate in 500 acres of land
was one of the necessary qualifications of each member of the legis-
lative council of the Territory ; every member of the Territorial House
of Representatives was required to hold, in his own right, 200 acres
of land; and the privilege of voting for members of the House
of Representatives was restricted to those inhabitants who, in addi-
tion to other qualifications, owned severally at least 50 acres of
land. The Governor of the the Territory was invested with the
power of appointing officers of the Territorial militia, Judges of the
inferior Courts, Clerks of the Courts, Justices of the Peace, Sheriffs,
Coroners, County Treasurers and County Surveyors. He was also
authorized to divide the Territory into districts; to apportion
among the several counties the members of the House of Represent-
atives; to prevent the passage of any Territorial law; and to con-
vene and dissolve the General Assemblv whenever he thought best.
None of the Governors, however, ever exercised these extraordinary
powers arbitrarily. Nevertheless, the people were constantly agi-
tating the question of extending the right of suffrage. Five years
after the organization of the Territory, the Legislative Council, in
reply to the Governor's Message, said: ''Although we are not as
completely independent in our legislative capacity as we would
wish to be, yet we are sensible that we must wait with patience for
that period of time when our population will burst the trammels
of a Territorial government, and we shall assume the character more
consonant to Republicanism. * * * The confidence which our
fellow citizens have uniformly had in your administration has been
such that they have hitherto had no reason to be jealous of the un-
limited power which you possess over our legislative proceedings.
"We, however, cannot help regretting that such powers have
been lodged in the hands of any one, especially when it is recol-
lected to what dangerous lengths the exercise of those powers may
be extended."
After repeated petitions the people of Indiana were empowered
by Congress to elect the members of the Legislative Council by popu-
lar vote. This act was passed in 1S09, and defined what was known
as the property qualification of voters. These qualifications were
abolished by Congress in 1811, which extended the right of voting
for members of the General Assembly and for a Territorial delegate
120 HISTORY OF INDIANA.
to Congress to every free white male person who had attained the
age of twenty -one years, and who, having paid a county or Terri-
torial tax, was a resident of the Territory and had resided in it for
a year. In 1S11 the voting qualification in Indiana was defined by
Congress, " to every free white male person having a freehold in
the Territory, and being a resident of the same." The House of
Representatives was authorized by Congress to lay off the Territory
into five districts, in each of which the qualified voters were em-
powered to electa member of the Legislative Council. The division
was made, one to two counties in each district.
At the session in August, 1814, the Territory was also divided
into three judicial circuits, and provisions were made for holding
courts in the same. The Governor was empowered to appoint a
presiding Judge in each circuit, and two Associate Judges of the
circuit court in each county. Their compensation was fixed at
$700 per annum.
The same year the General Assembly granted charters to two
banking institutions, the Farmers' and Mechanics' Bank of Madi-
son and the Bank of Vincennes. The first was authorized to raise
a capital of $750,000, and the other $500,000. On the organization
of the State these banks were merged into the State Bank and its
branches.
Here we close the history of the Territory of Indiana.
ORGANIZATION OF THE STATE.
The last regular session of the Territorial Legislature was held at
Corydon, convening in December, 1815. The message of Governor
Posey congratulated the people of the Territory upon the general
success of the settlements and the great increase of immigration,
recommended light taxes and a careful attention to the promotion
of education and the improvement of the State roads and highways.
He also recommended a revision of the territorial laws and an
amendment of the militia system. Several laws were passed pre-
paratory to a State Government, and December 14, IS 15, a me-
morial to Congress was adopted praying for the authority to adopt
a constitution and State Government. Mr. Jennings,the Territorial
delegate, laid this memorial before Congress on the 28th, and April
19, 1816, the President approved the bill creating the State of In-
diana. Accordingly, May 30 following, a general election was held
for a constitutional convention, which met at Corydon June 10 to
29, Jonathan Jennings presiding and Wm. Hendricks acting as
Secretary.
"The convention that formed the first constitution of the State
of Indiana was composed mainly of clear-minded, unpretending
men of common sense, whose patriotism was unquestionable and
whose morals were fair. Their familiarity with the theories of the
Declaration of American Independence, their Territorial experience
under the provisions of the ordinance of 17S7, and their knowledge of
the principles of the constitution of the United States were sufficient,
when combined, to lighten materially their labors in the great work
of forming a constitution for a new State. With such landmarks
in view, the labors of similar conventions in other States and Ter-
ritories have been rendered comparatively light. In the clearness
and conciseness of its style, in the comprehensive and just pro-
visions which it made for the maintainance of civil and religious
liberty, in its mandates, which were designed to protect the rights
of the people collectively and individually, and to provide for the
public welfare, the constitution that was formed for Indiana in 1816
was not inferior to any of the State constitutions which were in ex-
istence at that time." — Dillon' 's History of Indiana.
(121)
122 HISTORY OF INDIANA.
The first State election took place on the first ^Monday of August,
1816, and Jonathan Jennings was elected Governor, and Christo-
pher Harrison, LienY Governor. Wm. Hendricks was elected to
represent the new State in the House of Representatives of the
United States.
The first General Assembly elected under the new constitution
began its session at Corydon, Nov. 4, 1816. John Paul was called
to the chair of the Senate pro tern., and Isaac Blackford was elected
Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Among other things in the new Governor's message were the
following remarks: "The result of your deliberation will be con-
sidered as indicative of its future character as well as of the future
happiness and prosperity of its citizens. In the commencement
of the State government the shackles of the colonial should be for-
gotten in our exertions to prove, by happy experience, that a uni-
form adherence to the first principles of our Government and a
virtuous exercise of its powers will best secure efficiency to its
measures and stability to its character. Without a frequent recur-
rence to those principles, the administration of the Government
will imperceptibly become more and more arduous, until the sim-
plicity of our Republican institutions may eventually be lost in
dangerous expedients and political design. Under every free gov-
ernment the happiness of the citizens must be identified with their
morals; and while a constitutional exercise of their rights shall
continue to have its due weight in discharge of the duties required
of the constituted authorities of the State, too much attention can-
not be bestowed to the encouragement and promotion of every
moral virtue, and to the enactment of laws calculated to restrain
the vicious, and prescribe punishment for every crime commensu-
rate with its enormity. In measuring, however, to each crime its
adequate punishment, it will be well to recollect that the certainty
of punishment has generally the surest effect to prevent crime;
while punishments unnecessarily severe too often produce the ac-
quittal of the guilty and disappoint one of the greatest objects of
legislation and good government * * * The dissemination of
'useful knowledge will be indispensably necessary as a support to
morals aud as a restraint to vice; and on this subject it will only
be necessary to direct your attention to the plau of education as
prescribed by the constitution. * * * I recommend to your
consideration the propriety of providing by law, to prevent more
effectually any unlawful attempts to seize and carry into bondage
OPENING AN INDIANA FOKEST.
HISTORY OF INDIANA. 125
persons of color legally entitled to their freedom; and at the same
time, as far as practicable, to prevent those who rightfully owe ser-
vice to the citizens of any other State or Territory from seeking
within the limits of this State a refuge from the possession of their
lawful owners. Such a measure will tend to secure those who are
free from any unlawful attempts (to enslave them) and secures the
rights of the citizens of the other States and Territories as far as
ought reasonably to be expected."
This session of the Legislature elected James Noble and Waller
Taylor to the Senate of the United States; Kobert A. New was
elected Secretary of State; W. H. Lilley, Auditor of State; and
Daniel C. Lane, Treasurer of State. The session adjourned Janu-
ary 3, 1817.
As the history of the State of Indiana from this time forward is
best given by topics, we will proceed to give them in the chronolog-
ical order of their origin.
The happy close of the war with Great Britain in 1814 was fol-
lowed by a great rush of immigrants to the great Territory of the
Northwest, including the new States, all now recently cleared of
the enemy; and by 1820 the State of Indiana had more than
doubled her population, having at this time 147,178, and by 1S25
nearly doubled this again, that is to say, a round quarter of a mil-
lion, — a growth more rapid probably than that of any other section
in this country since the days of Columbus.
The period 1325-'30 was a prosperous time for the young State.
Immigration continued to be rapid, the crops were generally good
and the hopes of the people raised higher than they had ever been
before. Accompanying this immigration, however, were paupers
and indolent people, who threatened to be so numerous as to
become a serious burden. On this subject Governor Ray called for
legislative action, but the Legislature scarcely knew what to do
and they deferred action.
BLACK HAWK WAR.
la 1830 there still lingered within the bounds of the State two
tribes of Indians, whose growing indolence, intemperate habits,
dependence upon their neighbors for the bread of life, diminished
prospects of living by the chase, continued perpetration of murders
and other outrages of dangerous precedent, primitive igno-
rance and unrestrained exhibitions of savage customs before the
children of the settlers, combined to make them subjects for a more
rigid government. The removal of the Indians west of the Missis-
sippi was a melancholy but necessary duty. The time having
arrived for the emigration of the Pottawatomies, according to the
stipulations contained in their treaty with the United States, they
evinced that reluctance common among aboriginal tribes on leav-
ing the homes of their childhood and the graves of their ancestors.
Love of country is a principle planted in the bosoms of all man-
kind. The Laplander and the Esquimaux of the frozen north,
who feed on seals, moose and the meat of the polar bear, would not
exchange their country for the sunny clime of "Araby the blest."
Color and shades of complexion have nothing to do with the
heart's best, warmest emotions. Then we should not wonder that the
Pottawatomie, on leaving his home on the Wabash, felt as sad as
JEschines did when ostracised from his native land, laved by the
waters of the classic Scamander; and the noble and eloquent Xas-
waw-kay, on leaving tbe encampment on Crooked creek, felt his
banishment as keenly as Cicero when thrust from the bosom of his
beloved Pome, for which he had spent the best efforts of his life,
and for which he died.
On Sunday morning, May 18, 1832, the people on the west side
of the Wabash were thrown into a state of great consternation, on
account of a report that a large body of hostile Indians had
approached within 15 miles of Lafayette and killed two men. The
alarm soon spread throughout Tippecanoe, Warren, Vermillion,
Fountain, Montgomery, and adjoining counties. Several brave
commandants of companies on the west side of the Wabash in
Tippecanoe county, raised troops to go and meet the enemy, and
dispatched an express to Gen. Walker with a request that he should
(186)
IIISTOKY OF INDIANA. 127
make a call upon the militia of the county to equip themselves
instantly and march to the aid of their bleeding countrymen.
Thereupon Gen. Walker, Col. Davis, Lieut-Col. Jenners, Capt.
Brown, of the artillery, and various other gallant spirits mounted
their war steeds and proceeded to the army, and thence upon a
scout to the Grand Prairie to discover, if possible, the number,
intention and situation of the Indians. Over 300 old men, women
and children nocked precipitately to Lafayette and the surrounding
country east of the Wabash. A remarkable event occurred in this
stampede, as follows:
A man, wife and seven children resided on the edge of the
Grand Prairie, west of Lafayette, in a locality considered particu-
larly dangerous. On hearing of this alarm he made hurried
preparations to fly with his family to Lafayette for safety. Imag-
ine his surprise and chagrin when his wife told him she would not
go one step; that she did not believe in being scared at trifles, and
in her opinion there was not an Indian within 100 miles of them.
Importunity proved unavailing, and the disconsolate and frightened
husband and father took all the children except the youngest, bade
his wife and babe a long and solemn farewell, never expecting to
see them again, unless perhaps he might find their mangled re-
mains, minus their scalps. On arriving at Lafayette, his acquaint-
ances rallied and berated him for abandoning his wife and child in
that way, but he met their jibes with a stoical indifference, avowing
that he should not be held responsible for their obstinacy.
As the shades of the first evening drew on, the wife felt lonely;
and the chirping of the frogs and the notes of the whippoorwill only
intensified her loneliness, until she half wished she had accom-
panied the rest of the family in their flight. She remained in the
house a .ew hours without striking a light, and then concluded
that " discretion was the better part of valor," took her babe and
some bed-clothes, fastened the cabin door, and hastened to a sink-
hole in the woods, in which she afterward said that she and her
babe slept soundly until sunrise next morning.
Lafayette literally boiled over with people and patriotism. A
meeting was held at the court-house, speeches were made by
patriotic individuals, and to allay the fears of the women an armed
police was immediately ordered, to be called the " Lafaj - ette Guards."
Thos. T. Benbridge was elected Captain, and John Cox, Lieutenant.
Capt. Benbridge yielded the active drill of his guards to the
Lieutenant, who had served two years in the war of 1812. After
128 HISTORY OF INDIANA.
the meeting adjourned, the guards were paraded on the green
where Purdue's block now stands, and put through sundry evolu-
tions by Lieut. Cox, who proved to be an expert drill officer, and
whose clear, shrill voice runs' out on the nisrht air as he marched
and counter-marched the troops from where the paper-mill stands
to Main street ferry, and over the suburbs, generally. Every old
gun and sword that could be found was brought into requisition,
with a new shine on them.
Gen. Walker, Colonels Davis and Jenners, and other officers
joined in a call of the people of Tippecanoe county for volunteers to
march to the frontier settlements. A large meeting of the citizens
assembled in the public square in the town, and over 300 volunteers
mostly mounted men, left for the scene of action, with an alacrity
that would have done credit to veterans.
The first night they camped nine miles west of Lafayette, near
Grand Prairie. They placed sentinels for the night and retired to
rest. A few of the subaltern officers very injudiciously concluded
to try what effect a false alarm would have upon the sleeping sol-
diers, and a few of them withdrew to a neighboring thicket, and
thence made a charge upon the picket guards, who, after hailing
them and receiving no countersign, fired off their guns and ran for
the Colonel's marquee in the center of the encampment. The aroused
Colonels and staff sprang to their feet, shouting "To arms! to arms!"
and the obedient, though panic-stricken soldiers seized their guns
and demanded to be led against the invading foe. A wild scene of
disorder ensued, and amid the din of arms and loud commands of
the officers the raw militia felt that they had already got into the
red jaws of battle. One of the alarm sentinels, in running to the
center of the encampment, leaped over a blazing camp fire, and
alighted full upon the breast and stomach of a sleeping lawyer, who
was, no doubt, at that moment dreaming of vested and contingent
remainders, rich clients and good fees, which in legal parlance was
suddenly estopped by the hob-nails in the stogas of the scared
sentinel. As soon as the counselor's vitality and consciousness
sufficiently returned, ho put in some strong demurrers to the con-
duct of the affrighted picket men, averring that he would greatly
prefer being wounded by the enemy to being run over by a cowardly
booby. Next morning the organizers of the ruse were severely
reprimanded.
May 28, 1S32, Governor Noble ordered General Walker to call
out his whole command, if necessary, and supply arms, horses and
HISTORY OF INDIANA. 129
provisions, even though it be necessary to seize them. The next
day four baggage wagons, loaded with camp equipments, stores,
provisions and other articles, were seat to the little army, who were
thus provided for a campaign of five or six weeks. The following
Thursday a squad of cavalry, under Colonel Sigler, passed through
Lafayette on the way to the hostile region ; and on the 13th of June
Colonel Russell, commandant of the 40th Regiment, Indiana Militia,
passed through Lafayette with 340 mounted volunteers from the
counties of Marion, Hendricks and Johnson. Also, several com-
panies of volunteers from Montgomery, Fountain and Warren
counties, hastened to the relief of the frontier settlers. The troops
from Lafayette marched to Sugar creek, and after a short time,
there being no probability of finding any of the enemy, were
ordered to return, They all did so except about 45 horsemen, who
volunteered to cross Hickory creek, where the Indians had com-
mitted their depredations. They organized a company by electing
Samuel McGeorge, a soldier of the war of 1812, Captain, and Amos
Allen and Andrew W. Ingraham, Lieutenants.
Crossing Hickory creek, they marched as far as O'Plein river
without meeting with opposition. Finding no enemy here they
concluded to return. On the first night of their march home they
encamped on the open prairie, posting sentinels, as usual. About
ten o'clock it began to rain, and it was with difficulty that the sen-
tinels kept their guns dry. Capt. I. H. Cox and a man named Fox
had been posted as sentinels within 15 or 20 paces of each other.
Cox drew the skirt of his overcoat over his gun-lock to keep it dry;
Fox, perceiving this motion, and in the darkness taking him for an
Indian, fired npon him and fractured his thigh-bone. Several sol-
diers immediately ran toward the place where the flash of the gun
had been seen; but when they cocked and leveled their guns on the
figure which had fired at Cox, the wounded man caused them to
desist by crying, " Don't shoot him, it was a sentinel who shot me."
The next day the wounded man was left behind the company in
care of four men, who, as soon as possible, removed him on a litter
to Col. Moore's company of Illinois militia, then enoamped on the
O'Plein, where Joliet now stands.
Although the main body returned to Lafayette in eight or nine
days, yet the alarm among the people was so great that they could
not be induced to return to their farms for some time. The pres-
ence of the hostiles was hourly expected by the frontier settlements
of Indiana, from Vinceunes to La Porte. In Clinton county the
130 HISTORY OF INDIANA.
inhabitants gathered within the forts and prepared for a regular
siege, while our neighbors at Crawfordsville were suddenly
astounded by the arrival of a courier at full speed with the announce-
ment that the Indians, more than a thousand in number, were then
crossing the Nine-Mile prairie about twelve miles north of town,
killing and scalping all. The strongest houses were immediately
put in a condition of defense, and sentinels were placed at the prin-
cipal points in the direction of the enemy. Scouts were sent out to
reconnoitre, and messengers were dispatched in different directions
to announce the danger to the farmers, and to urge them to hasten
with their families into town, and to assist in fighting the moment-
aril)' expected savages. At night-fall the scouts brought in the
news that the Indians had not crossed the Wabash, but were hourly
expected at Lafayette. The citizens of Warren, Fountain and Ver-
million counties were alike terrified bv exaggerated stories of Indian
massacres, and immediately prepared for defense. It turned out
that the Indians were not within 100 miles of these temporary
forts; but this by no means proved a want of courage in the citizens.
After some time had elapsed, a portion of the troops were
marched back into Tippecanoe county and honorably discharged;
but the settlers were still loth for a long time to return to their
farms. Assured by published reports that the Miamis and Potta-
watomies did not intend to join the hostiles, the people by degrees
recovered from the panic and*began to attend to their neglected
crops.
During this time there was actual war in Illinois. Black Hawk
and his warriors, well nigh surrounded by a well-disciplined foe,
attempted to cross to the west bank of the Mississippi, but after
being chased up into Wisconsin and to the Mississippi again, he
was in a final battle taken captive. A few years after his liberation,
about 1837 or 1838, he died, on the banks of the Des Moines river,
in Iowa, in what is now the county of Davis, where his remains
were deposited above ground, in the usual Indian style. His re-
mains were afterward stolen and carried away, but they were re-
covered by the Governor of Iowa and placed in the museum of the
Historical Society at Burlington, where they were finally destroyed
by fire.
LAST EXODUS OF THE INDIANS.
In July, 1S37, Col. Abel C. Pepper convened the Pottawatomie
nation of Indians at Lake Ke-waw-nay for the purpose of remov-
ing them west of the Mississippi. That fall a small party of some
80 or 90 Pottawatomies was conducted west of the Mississippi
river by George Proffit, Esq. Among the number were Ke-waw-
nay, Nebash, Nas-waw-kay, Pash-po-ho and many other leading
men of the nation. The regular emigration of these poor Indians,
about 1,000 in number, took place under Col. Pepper and Gen. Tip-
ton in the summer of 1838.
It was a sad and mournful spectacle to witness these children of
the forest slowly retiring from the home of their childhood, that
contained not only the graves of their revered ancestors, but also
many endearing scenes to which their memories would ever recur
as sunny spots along their pathway through the wilderness. They
felt that they were bidding farewell to the hills, valleys and streams
of their infancy; the more exciting hunting-grounds of their ad-
vanced youth, as well as the stern and bloody battle-fields where
they had contended in riper manhood, on which they had received
wounds, aWd where many of their friends and loved relatives had
fallen covered with gore and with glory. All these they were leav-
ing behind them, to be desecrated by the plowshare of the white
man. As they cast mournful glances back toward these loved
scenes that were rapidly fading in the distance, tears fell from the
cheek of the downcast warrior, old men trembled, matrons wept,
the swarthy maiden's cheek turned pale, and sighs and half-sup-
pressed sobs escaped from the motley groups as they passed along,
some on foot, some on horseback, and others in wagons, — sad as a
funeral procession. Several of the aged warriors were seen to cast
glances toward the sky, as if they were imploring aid from the
spirits of their departed heroes, who were looking down upon them
from the clouds, or from the Great Spirit, who would ultimately
redress the wrongs of the red man, whose broken bow had fallen
from his hand, and whose sad heart was bleeding within him.
Ever and anon one of the party would start out into the brush and
break back to their old encampments on Eel river and on the Tippe-
(131)
132 nisTORr of Indiana.
canoe, declaring that they would rather die than be banished from
their country. Thus, scores of discontented emigrants returned
from different points on their journey; and it was several years
before they could be induced to join their countrymen west of the
Mississippi.
Several years after the removal of the Pottawatomies the Miami
nation was removed to their Western home, by coercive means, un-
der an escort of United States troops. They were a proud and
once powerful nation, but at the time of their removal were far
inferior, in point of numbers, to the Pottawatomie guests whom
they had permitted to settle and hunt upon their lands, and fish in
their lakes and rivers after they had been driven southward by
powerful and warlike tribes who inhabited the shores of the North-
ern lakes.
INDIAN TITLES.
In 1S31 a joint resolution of the Legislature of Indiana, request-
ing an appropriation by Congress for the extinguishment of the
Indian title to lands within the State, was forwarded to that body*
which granted the request. The Secretary of "War, by authority,
appointed a committee of three citizens to carry into effect the pro-
visions of the recent law. The Miamis were surrounded on all
sides by American settlers, and were situated almost in the heart
of the State on the line of the canal then being made. The chiefs
were called to a council for the purpose of making a treaty; they
promptly came, but peremptorily refused to go westward or sell
the remainder of their land. The Pottawatomies sold about
6,000,000 acres in Indiana, Illinois and Michigan, including all
their claim in this State.
In 1838 a treaty was concluded with the Miami Indians through
the good offices of Col. A. C. Pepper, the Indian agent, by which
a considerable of the most desirable portion of their reserve was
ceded to the United States.
LAND SALES.
As an example of the manner in which land speculators were
treated by the early Indianians, we cite the following instances
from Cox's " Recollections of the "Wabash Valley."
At Crawfordsville, Dec. 2±, 1S24, many parties were present
from the eastern and southern portions of the State, as well as from
Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee and even Pennsylvania, to attend a
land sale. There was but little bidding against each other. The
settlers, or " squatters," as they were called by the speculators, had
arranged matters among themselves to their general satisfaction.
If, upon comparing numbers, it appeared that two were after the
same tract of land, one would ask the other what he would take
not to bid against him; if neither would consent to be bought off
they would retire and cast lots, and the lucky one would enter the
tract at Congress price, $1.25 an acre, and the other would enter the
second choice on his list. If a speculator made a bid, or showed a
disposition to take a settler's claim from him, he soon saw the
white of a score of eyes glaring at him, and he would "crawfish"
out of the crowd at the first opportunity.
The settlers made it definitely known to foreign capitalists that
they would enter the tracts of land they had settled upon before
allowing the latter to come in with their speculations. The land
was sold in tiers of townships, beginning at the southern part of
the district and continuing north until all had been offered at
public sale. This plan was persisted in, although it kept many on
the ground for several days waiting, who desired to purchase land
in the northern part of the district.
In 1827 a regular Indian scare was gotten up to keep specu-
lators away for a short time. A man who owned a claim on Tippe-
canoe river, near Pretty prairie, fearing that some one of the
numerous land hunters constantly scouring the country might
enter the land he had settled upon before he could raise the money
to buy it, and seeing one day a cavalcade of land hunters riding
toward where his land lay, mounted his horse and darted off at
full speed to meet them, swinging his hat and shouting at the top
of his voice, " Indians! Indians! the woods are full of Indians,
(133)
134 HISTORY OF INDIANA.
murdering and scalping all before them!" They paused a moment,
bnt as the terrified horseman still urged his jaded animal and cried,
"Help! Longlois, Cicots, help!" they turned and fled like a troop of
retreating cavalry, hastening to the thickest settlements and giving
the alarm, which spread like fire among stubble until the whole
frontier region was shocked with the startling cry. The squatter
who fabricated the story and started this false alarm took a cir-
cuitous route home that evening, and while others were busy
building temporary block-houses and rubbing up their guns to
meet the Indians, he was quietly gathering up money and slipped
down to Crawfordsville and entered his land, chuckling to himself,
"There's a Yankee trick for you, done up by a Hoosier."
HARMONY COMMUNITY.
In 1814 a society of Germans under Frederick Rappe, who had
originally come from Wirtemberg, Germain', and more recently
from Pennsylvania, founded a settlement on the Wabash about 50
miles above its mouth. They were industrious, frugal and honest
Lutherans. They purchased a large quantity of land and laid off
a town, to which they gave the name of " Harmony," afterward
called "New Harmony." They erected a church and a public
school-house, opened farms, planted orchards and vineyards, built
flouring mills, established a house of public entertainment, a public
store, and carried on all the arts of peace with skill and regularity.
Their property was " in common," according to the custom of an-
cient Christians at Jerusalem, but the governing power, both tem-
poral and spiritual, was vested in Frederick Rappe, the elder, who
was regarded as the founder of the society. By the year 1821 the
society numbered about 900. Every individual of proper age con-
tributed his proper share of labor. There were neither spendthrifts,
idlers nor drunkards, and during the whole 17 years of their sojourn
in America there was not a single lawsuit among them. Every
controversy arising among them was settled by arbitration, expla-
nation and compromise before sunset of the day, literally according
to the injunction of the apostle of the New Testament.
About 1825 the town of Harmony and a considerable quantity
of land adjoining was sold to Robert Owen, father of David Dale
Owen, the State Geologist, and of Robert Dale Owen, of later
notoriety. He was a radical philosopher from Scotland, who had
become distinguished for his philanthropy and opposition to
HISTORT OF INDIANA. 135
Christianity. He charged the latter with teaching false notions
regarding human responsibility — notions which have since been
clothed in the language of physiology, mental philosophy, etc.
Said he:
"That which has hitherto been called wickedness in our fellow
men has proceeded from one of two distinct causes, or from some
combination of those causes. They are what are termed bad or
wicked,
" 1. Because they are born with faculties or propensities which
render them more liable, under the same circumstances, than other
men, to commit such actions as are usually denominated wicked;
or,
" 2. Because they have been placed by birth or other events in
particular countries, — have been influenced from infancy by par-
ents, playmates and others, and have been surrounded by those
circumstances which gradually and necessarily trained them in the
habits and sentiments called wicked; or,
"3. They have become wicked in consequence of some particu-
lar combination of these causes.
" If it should be asked, Whence then has wickedness pro-
ceeded? I reply, Solely from the ignorance of our forefathers.
" Every society which exists at present, as well as every society
which history records, has been formed and governed on a belief
in the following notions, assumed as first principles:
" 1. That it is in the power of every individual to form his own
character. Hence the various systems called by the name of religion,
codes of law, and punishments; hence, also, the angry passions
entertained by individuals and nations toward each other.
" 2. That the affections are at the command of the individual.
Hence insincerity and degradation of character; hence the miseries
of domestic life, and more than one-half of all the crimes of man-
kind.
" 3. That it is necessary a large portion of mankind should ex-
ist in ignorance and poverty in order to secure to the remaining part
such a degree of happiness as they now enjoy. Hence a system of
counteraction in the pursuits of men, a general opposition among
individuals to the interests of each other, and the necessary effects
of such a system, — ignorance, poverty and vice.
I
THE MEXICAN WAR
During the administration of Gov. "Whitcomb the war with
Mexico occurred, which resulted in annexing to the United States
vast tracts of land in the south and west. Indiana contributed her
full ratio to the troops in that war, and with a remarkable spirit of
promptness and patriotism adopted all measures to sustain the gen-
eral Government. These new acquisitions of territory re-opened
the discussion of the slavery question, and Governor Whitcomb
expressed his opposition to a further extension of the " national
sin."
The causes which led to a declaration of war against Mexico in
1S46, must be sought for as far back as the year 1830, when the
present State of Texas formed a province of New and Independent
Mexico. During the years immediately preceding 1830, Moses
Austin, of Connecticut, obtained a liberal grant of lands from the
established Government, and on his death his son was treated in an
equally liberal manner. The glowing accounts rendered by Aus-
tin; and the vivid picture of Elysian fields drawn by visiting jour-
nalists, soon resulted in the influx of a large tide of immigrants,
nor did the movement to the Southwest cease until 1830. The
Mexican province held a prosperous population, comprising 10,000
American citizens. The rapacious Government of the Mexicans
looked with greed and jealousy upon their eastern province, and,
under the presidency of Gen. Santa Anna, enacted such measures,
both unjust and oppressive, as would meet their design of goading
the people of Texas on to revolution, and thus afford an opportu-
nity for the infliction of punishment upon subjects whose only
crime was industry and its accompaniment, prosperity. Precisely
in keeping with the course pursued by the British toward the col-
onists of the Eastern States in the last century, Santa Anna's
Government met the remonstrances of the colonists of Texas with
threats; and they, secure in their consciousness of right quietly
issued their declaration of independence, and proved its literal
meaning on the field of Gonzales in 1835, having with a force ol
(136)
HISTOEV OF INDIANA. 137
500 men forced the Mexican army of 1,000 to fly for refuge to their
strongholds. Battle after battle followed, bringing victory always
to the Colonists, and ultimately resulting in the total rout of the
Mexican army and the evacuation of Texas. The routed army
after a short term of rest reorganized, and reappeared in the Terri-
tory, 8,000 strong. On April 21, a division of this large force
under Santa Anna encountered the Texans under General Samuel
Houston on the banks of the San Jacinto, and though Houston
could only oppose 800 men to the Mexican legions, the latter were
driven from the field,nor could they reform their scattered ranks until
their General was captured next day and forced to sign the declaration
of 1835. The signature of Santa Anna, though ignored by the
Congress of the Mexican Republic, and consequently left unratified
on the part of Mexico, was effected in so much, that after the sec-
ond defeat of the army of that Republic all the hostilities of an
important nature ceased, the Republic of Texas was recognized by
the powers, and subsequently became an integral part of the United
States, July 4, 1846. At this period General Herrera was pres-
ident of Mexico. He was a man of peace, of common sense, and
very patriotic; and he thus entertained, or pretended to enter-
tain, the great neighboring Republic in high esteem. For this
reason he grew unpopular with his people, and General Paredes
was called to the presidential chair, which he continued to occupy
until the breaking out of actual hostilities with the United States,
when Gen. Santa Anna was elected thereto.
President Polk, aware of the state of feeling in Mexico, ordered
Gen. Zachary Taylor, in command of the troops in the Southwest, to
proceed to Texas, and post himself as near to the Mexican border
as he deemed prudent. At the same time an American squadron was
dispatched to the vicinity, in the Gulf of Mexico. In November,
General Taylor had taken his position at Corpus Christi, a Texan
settlement on a bay of the same name, with about 4,000 men. On
the 13th of January, 1846, the President ordered him to advance
with his forces to the Rio Grande; accordingly he proceeded, and
in March stationed himself on the north bank of that river, with-
in cannon-shot of the Mexican town of Matamoras. Here he
hastily erected a fortress, called Fort Brown. The territory ly-
ing between the river Nueces and the Rio Grande river, about
120 miles in width, was claimed both by Texas and Mexico; ac-
cording to the latter, therefore, General Taylor had actually
invaded her Territory, and had thus committed an open
13S HISTORY OF INDIANA.
act of war. On the 26th of April, the. Mexican General, Ampudia,
gave notice to this effect to General Taylor, and on the same day a
party of American dragoons, sixty-three in number, being on the
north side of the Rio Grande, were attacked, and, after the loss of
sixteen men killed and wounded, were forced to surrender. Their
commander, Captain Thornton, only escaped. The Mexican forces
had now crossed the river above Matamoras and were supposed to
meditate an attack on Point Isabel, where Taylor had established a
depot of supplies for his army. On the 1st of May, this officer left
a small number of troops at Fort Brown, and marched with his
chief forces, twenty-three hundred men, to the defense of Point
Isabel. Having garrisoned this place, he set out on his return.
On the Sth of May, about noon, he met the Mexican army, six
thousand strong, drawn up in battle array, on the prairie near Palo
Alto. The Americans at once advanced to the attack, and, after an
action of five hours, in which their artillery was very effective,
drove the enemy before them, and encamped upon the field. The
Mexican loss was about one hundred killed; that ot the Americans,
four killed and forty wounded. Major Ringgold, of the artillery,
an officer of great merit, was mortally wounded. The next day, as
the Americans advanced, they again met the enemy in a strong
position near Resaca de la Palma, three miles from Fort Brown.
An action commenced, and was fiercely contested, the artillerj' on
both sides being served with great vigor. At last the Mexicans
gave way, and fled in confusion, General de la Vega having fallen
into the hands of the Americaus. They also abandoned their guns
and a large quantity of ammunition to the victors. The remain-
ing Mexican soldiers speedily crossed the Rio Grande, and the next
day the Americans took up their position at Fort Brown. This
little fort, in the absence of General Taylor, had gallantly sustained
an almost uninterrupted attack of several days from the Mexican
batteries of Matamoras.
When the news of the capture of Captain Thornton's party was
spread over the United States, it produced great excitement. The
President addressed a message to Congress, then in session, declar-
ing " that war with Mexico existed by her own act;" and that body,
May, 1S46, placed ten millions of dollars at the President's dispo-
sal, and authorized him to accept the services of fifty thousand
volunteers. A great part of the summer of 1S46 was spent in prep-
aration for the war, it being resolved to invade Mexico at several
points. In pursuance of this plan, General Taylor, who had taken
HISTORY OF INDIANA. 139
possession of Matamoras, abandoned by the enemy in May, marched
northward in the enemy's country in August, and on the 19th of
September he appeared before Monterey, capital of the Mexican
State of New Leon. His army, after having garrisoned several
places along his route, amounted to six thousand men. The attack
began on the 21st, and after a succession of assaults, during the
period of four days, the Mexicans capitulated, leaving the town
in possession of the Americans. In October, General Taylor
terminated an armistice into which he had entered with the
Mexican General, and again commenced offensive operations.
Various towns and fortresses of the enemy now rapidly fell into
our possession. In November, Saltillo, the capital of the State
of Coahuila was occupied by the division of General Worth;
in December, General Patterson took possession of Victoria,
the capital of Tamaulipas, and nearly at the same period,
Commodore Perry captured the fort of Tampico. Santa Fe,
the capital of New Mexico, with the whole territory of the State
had been subjugated by General Harney, after a march of one
thousand miles through the wilderness. Events of a startling char-
acter had taken place at still earlier dates along the Pacific coast. On
the 4th of July, Captain Fremott, having repeatedly defeated su-
perior Mexican forces with the small band under his command, de-
clared California independent of Mexico. Other important places
in this region had yielded to the American naval force, and in Au-
gust, 1846, the whole of California was in the undisputed occupa-
tion of the Americans.
The year 1847 opened with still more brilliant victories on the
part of our armies. By the drawing off of a large part of
General Taylor's troops for a meditated attack on Vera Cruz, he
was left with a comparatively small force to meet the great body of
Mexican troops, now marching upon him, under command of the
celebrated Santa Anna, who had again become President of Mexico.
Ascertaining the advance of this powerful army, twenty thou-
sand strong, and consisting of the best of the Mexican soldiers,
General Taylor took up his position at Buena Vista, a valley a few
miles from Saltillo. His whole troops numbered only four thousand
seven hundred and fifty-nine, and here, on the 23d of February, he
was vigorously attacked by the Mexicans. The battle was very
severe, and continued nearly the whole day, when the Mexicans fled
from the field in disorder, with a loss of nearly two thousand men.
Santa Anna speedily withdrew, and thus abandoned the region of
I
140 HISTORY OF INDIANA.
the Rio Grande to the complete occupation of our troops. This left
our forces at liberty to prosecute the grand enterprise of the cam-
paign, the capture of the strong town of Vera Cruz, with its re-
nowned castle of San Juan d'Ulloa. On the 9th of March, 1847,
General Scott landed near the city with an army of twelve thousand
men, and on the 18th commenced an attack. For four days and
nights an almost incessant shower of shot and shells was poured
upon the devoted town, while the batteries of the castle and the city
replied with terrible energy. At last, as the Americans were pre-
paring for an assault, the Governor of the city offered to surrender,
and on the 26th the American flag floated triumphantly from the
walls of the castle and the city. General Scott now prepared to
march upon the city of Mexico, the capital of the country, situated
two hundred miles in the interior, and approached only through a
series of rugged passes and mountain fastnesses, rendered still more
formidable by several strong fortresses. On the 8th of April the
army commenced their march. At Oerro Gordo, Santa Anna had
posted himself with fifteen thousand men. On the 18th the Amer-
icans began the daring attack, and by midday every intrenchment
of the enemy had been carried. The loss of the Mexicans in this
remarkable battle, besides one thousand killed and wounded, was
three thousand prisoners, forty-three pieces of cannon, five
thousand stand of arms, and all their amunitions and mate-
rials of war. The loss of the Americans was four hundred
and thirty-one in killed and wounded. The next day our forces
advanced, and, capturing fortress after fortress, came on the
ISth of August within ten miles of Mexico, a city of two hun-
dred thousand inhabitants, and situated in one of the most
beautiful valleys in the world. On the 20th they attacked and
carried the strong batteries of Contreras, garrisoned by 7,000 men,
in an impetuous assault, which lasted but seventeen minutes. On
the same day an attack was made by the Americans on the fortified
post of Churubusco, four miles northeast of Contreras. Here
nearly the entire Mexican army — more than 20,000 in number —
were posted; but they were defeated at every point, and obliged to
seek a retreat in the ci ty, or the still remaining fortress of Chapul-
tepec. While preparations were being made on the 21st by Gen-
eral Scott, to level his batteries against the city, prior to summon-
ing it to surrender, he received propositions from the enemy, which
terminated in an armistice. This ceased on the 7th of September.
On the Sth the outer defense of Chapultepec was successfully
HISTORY OF INDIANA. Ill
stormed by General "Worth, though he lost one-fourth of his men
in the desperate struggle. The castle of Chapultepec, situated on
an abrupt and rocky eminence, 150 feet above the surrounding
country, presented a most formidable object of attack. On the
12th, however, the batteries were opened against it, and on the
next day the citadel was carried by storm. The Mexicans still strug-
gled along the great causeway leading to the city, as the Americans
advanced, but before nightt'al a part of our army was within the
gates of the city. Santa Anna and the officers of the Government
fled, and the next morning, at seven o'clock, the flag of the Ameri-
cans floated from the national palace of Mexico. This conquest of
the capital was the great and final achievement of the war. The
Mexican republic was in fact prostrate, her sea-coast and chief
cities being in the occupation of our troops. On the 2d of Feb-
ruary, 1848, terms of peace were agreed upon by the American
commissioner and the Mexican Government, this treaty being rati-
fied by the Mexican Congress on the 30th of May following, and
by the United States soon after. President Polk proclaimed peace
on the 4th of July, 1S4S. In the preceding sketch we have given
only a mere outline of the war with Mexico. We have necessarily
passed over many interesting events, and have not even named
many of our soldiers who performed gallant and important ser-
vices. General Taylor's successful operations in the region of the
Rio Grande were duly honored by the people of the United States,
by bestowing upon him the Presidency. General Scott's campaign,
from the attack on Vera Cruz, to the surrender of the city of
Mexico, was far more remarkable, and, in a military point of view,
must be considered as one of the most brilliant of modern times. It
is true the Mexicans are not to be ranked with the great nations of
the earth; with a population of seven or eight millions, they have
little more than a million of the white race, the rest being half-civ-
ilized Indians and mestizos, that is, those of mixed blood. Their
government is inefficient, and the people divided among them-
selves. Their soldiers often fought bravely, but they were badly
officered. While, therefore, we may consider the conquest of so
extensive and populous a country, in so short a time, and attended
with such constant superiority even to the greater numbers of the
enemy, as highly gratifying evidence of the courage and capacity
of our army, still we must not, in judging of our achievements, fail
to consider the real weakness of the nation whom we vanquished.
I
142 HISTORY OF INDIANA.
One thing we may certainly dwell upon with satisfaction — the ad-
mirable example, not only as a soldier, but as a man, set by our com-
mander, Gen. Scott, who seems, in the midst of war and the ordinary
license of the camp, always to have preserved the virtue, kindness,
and humanity belonging to a state of peace. These qualities
secured to him the respect, confidence and good-will even of the
enemy he had conquered. Among the Generals who effectually
aided General Scott in this remarkable campaign, we must not
omit to mention the names of Generals Wool, Twiggs, Shields,
"Worth, Smith, and Quitman, who generally added to the high
qualities of soldiers the still more estimable characteristics of
good men. The treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo stipulated that the
disputed territory between the Nueces and the Rio Grande should
belong to the United States, and it now forms a part of Texas, as
has been already stated; that the United States should assume and
pay the debts due from Mexico to American citizens, to the amount
of $3,500,000; and that, in consideration of the sum of $15,000,000
to be paid by the United States to Mexico, the latter should
relinquish to the former the whole of New Mexico and Upper
California.
The soldiers of Indiana who served in this war were formed into
five regiments of volunteers, numbered respectively, 1st, 2d, 3rd,
4th and 5th. The fact that companies of the three first-named reg-
iments served at times with the men of Illinois, the New York
volunteers, the Palmettos of South Carolina, and United States
marines, under Gen. James Shields, makes for them a history; be-
cause the campaigns of the Rio Grande and Chihuahua, the siege
of Vera Cruz, the desperate encounter at Cerro Gordo, the tragic
contests in the valley, at Contreras and Churubusco, the storming
of Chapultepec, and the planting of the stars and stripes upon
every turret and spire within the conquered city of Mexico, were
all carried out by the gallant troops under the favorite old General,
and consequently each of them shared with him in the glories at-
tached to such exploits. The other regiments under Cols. Gorman
and Lane participated in the contests of the period under other com-
manders. The 4th Regiment of Indiana Volunteers, comprising
ten companies, was formally organized at Jeffersonville, Indiana,
by Capt. R. C. Gatlin, June 15, 1S47, and on the 16th elected
Major Willis A. Gorman, of the 3rd Regiment, to the Colonelcy;
Ebenezer Dumont, Lieutenant-Colonel, and W. McCoy, Major. On
the 27th of June the regiment left Jeffersonville for the front, and
HISTOKY OF INDIANA. 143
subsequently was assigned to Brigadier-General Lane's command,
which then comprised a battery of five pieces from the 3rd Regi-
ment U. S. Artillery; a battery of two pieces from the 2nd Regiment
U. S. Rrtillery, the 4th Regiment of Indiana Volunteers and the 4th
Regiment of Ohio, with a squadron of mounted Louisianians and
detachments of recruits for the U. S. army. The troops of this
brigade won signal honors at Basso de Ovegas, August 10, 1847;
National Bridge, on the 12th; Cerro Gordo, on the 15th; Las Ani-
mas, on the 19th, under Maj. F. T. Lally, of General Lane's staff,
and afterward under Lane, directly, took a very prominent part in
the siege of Pnebla, which began on the 15th of September and
terminated on the 12th of October. At Atlixco, October 19th;
Tlascala, November 10th; Matamoras and Pass Galajara, Novem-
ber 23rd and 24th; Guerrilla Ranehe, December 5th; Napaloncan,
December 10th, the Indiana volunteers of the 4th Regiment per-
formed gallant service, and carried the campaign into the following
year, representing their State at St. Martin's, February 27, 1848;
Cholula, March 26th; Matacordera, February 19th; Sequalteplan,
February 25th; and on the cessation of hostilities reported at
Madison, Indiana, for discharge, July 11, 1848; while the 5th In-
diana Regiment, under Col. J. H. Lane, underwent a similar round
of duty during its service with other brigades, and gained some
celebrity at Vera Cruz, Churubusco and with the troops of Illinois
under Gen. Shields at Chapultepec.
This war cost the people of the United States sixty-six millions
of dollars. This very large amount was not paid away for the at-
tainment of mere glory ; there was something else at stake, and
this something proved to be a country larger and more fertile than
the France of the Napoleons, and more steady and sensible than
the France of the Republic. It was the defense of the great Lone
Star State, the humiliation and chastisement of a quarrelsome
neighbor.
SLAVERY.
We have already referred to the prohibition of slavery in the
Northwestern Territory, and Indiana Territory by the ordinance of
17S7; to the imperfection in the execution of this ordinance and the
troubles which the authorities encountered; and the complete estab-
lishment of the principles of freedom on the organization of the State.
Tbe next item of significance in this connection is the following Ian-
guage in the message of Gov. Hay to the Legislature of 1S28: "Since
our last separation, while we have witnessed with anxious solicitude
the belligerent operations of another hemisphere, tLe cross contend-
ing against the crescent, and the prospect of a general rupture among
the legitimates of other quarters of the globe, our attention has
been arrested by proceedings in our own country truly dangerous
to liberty, seriously premeditated, and disgraceful to its authors
if agitated only to tamper with the American people. If such ex-
periments as we see attempted in certain deluded quarters do not
fall with a burst of thunder upon the heads of their seditious pro-
jectors, then indeed the Republic has begun to experience the days
of its degeneracy. The union of these States is the people's only
sure charter for their liberties and independence. Dissolve it and
each State will soon be in a condition as deplorable as Alexander's
conquered countries after they were divided amongst his victorious
military captains."
In pursuance of a joint resolution of the Legislature of 1S50, a
block of native marble was procured and forwarded to Washington,
to be placed in the monument then in the course of erection at the
National Capital in memory of George Washington. In the
absence of any legislative instruction concerning the inscription
npon this emblem of Indiana's loyalty, Gov. Wright ordered the
following words to be inscribed upon it: Indiana Knows No
North, No South, Nothing but the Union. Within a dozen
years thereafter this noble State demonstrated to the world her loy-
alty to the Union and the principles of freedom by the sacrifice of
blood and treasure which she made. In keeping with this senti-
ment Gov. Wright indorsed the compromise measures of Congress
on the slavery question, remarking in his message that " Indiana
takes her stand in the ranks, not of Southern destiny, nor yet of
(144)
SCENE ON THE WABASH RIVER.
HISTOET OF INDIANA. 147
Northern destiny: she plants herself on the basis of the Consti-
tution and takes her stand in the ranks of American destiny."
FIFTEENTH AMENDMENT.
At the session of the Legislature in January, 18G9, the subject
of ratifying the fifteenth amendment to the Federal Constitution,
allowing negro suffrage, came up with such persistency that neither
party dared to undertake any other business lest it be checkmated
in some way, and being at a dead lock on this matter, they adjourn-
ed in March without having done much important business. The
Democrats, as well as a portion of the conservative Republicans,
opposed its consideration strongly on the ground that it would be
unfair to vote on the question until the people of the State had had
an opportunity of expressing their views at the polls; but most of
the Republicans resolved to push the measure through, while the
Democrats resolved to resign in a bodv and leave the Legislature
without a quorum. Accordingly, on March 4, 17 Senators and 36
Representatives resigned, leaving both houses without a quorum.
As the early adjournment of the Legislature left the benevolent
institutions of the State unprovided for, the Governor convened
that body in extra session as soon as possible, and after the neces-
sary appropriations were made, on the 19th of May the fifteenth
amendment came up; but in anticipation of this the Democratic
members had all resigned and claimed that there was no quorum
present. There was a quorum, however, of Senators in office,
though some of them refused to vote, declaring that they were no
longer Senators; but the president of that body decided that as he
had not been informed of their resignation by the Governor, they
were still members. A vote was taken and the ratifying resolution
was adopted. When the resolution came up in the House, the
chair decided that, although the Democratic members had resigned
there was a quorum of the de-facto members present, and the
House proceeded to pass the resolution. This decision of the chair
was afterward sustained by the Supreme Court.
At the next regular session of the Legislature, in 1871, the
Democrats undertook to repeal the ratification, and the Republican
members resigned to prevent it. The Democrats, as the Republi-
cans did on the previous occasion, proceeded to pass their resolu-
tion of repeal; but while the process was under way, before the
House Committee had time to report on the matter, 34 Republican
members resigned, thereby preventing its passage and putting a
stop to further legislation.
INDIANA IN THE WAR.
The events of the earlier years of this State have been reviewed
down to that period in the nation's history when the Republic de-
manded a first sacrifice from the newly erected States: to the time
when the very safety of the glorious heritage, bequeathed by the
fathers as a rich legacy, was threatened with a fate worse than death
— a life under laws that harbored the slave — a civil defiance of the
first principles of the Constitution.
Indiana was among the first to respond to the summons of patri-
otism, and register itself on the national roll ot honor, even as she
was among the first to join in that song of joy which greeted a Re-
public made doubly glorious within a century by the dual victory
which won liberty for itself, and next bestowed the precious boon
upon the colored slave.
The fall of Fort Sumter was a signal for the uprising of the State.
The news of the calamity was flashed to Indianapolis on the 11th of
April, 1861, and early the next morning the electric wire brought
the welcome message to Washington: —
Executive Department of Indiana, )
Indianapolis, April 15, 1801. )
To Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States: — On behalf of the State
of Indiana, I tender to you for the defense of the Nation, and to uphold the au-
thority of the Government, ten thousand men.
OLIVER P. MORTON,
Governor of Indiana.
This may be considered the first official act of Governor Morton,
who had just entered on the duties of his exalted position. The
State was in an almost helpless condition, and yet the faith of the
" War Governor " was prophetic, when, after a short consultation
with the members of the Executive Council, he relied on the fidelity
of ten thousand men and promised their services to the Protectorate
at Washington. This will be more apparent when the military
condition of the State at the beginning of 1S61 is considered. At
that time the armories contained less than five hundred stand of
serviceable small arms, eight pieces of cannon which might be use-
ful in a museum of antiquities, with sundry weapons which would
merely do credit to the aborigines of one hundred years ago. The
financial condition of the State was even worse than the military.
(US)
HISTORY OF INDIANA. 1^9
The sum of $10,3GS.5S in trust funds was the amount of cash in the
hands of the Treasurer, and tliis was, to all intents and purposes
unavailable to meet the emergency, since it could not be devoted
to the military requirements of the day. This state of affairs was
dispiriting in the extreme, and would doubtless have militated
against the ultimate success of any other man than Morton; yet
he overleaped every difficulty, nor did the fearful realization of
Floyd's treason, discovered during his visit to Washington, damp
his indomitable courage and energy, but with rare persistence he
urged the claims of his State, and for his exertions was requited
with an order for five thousand muskets. The order was not exe-
cuted until hostilities were actually entered upon, and consequently
for some days succeeding the publication of the President's procla-
mation the people labored under a feeling of terrible anxiety min-
gled with uncertainty, amid the confusion which followed the crim-
inal negligence that permitted the disbandment of the magnificent
corps oV armee (51,000 men) of 1832 two years later in 1S34, Great
numbers of the people maintained their equanamity with the result
of beholding within a brief space of time every square mile of their
State represented by soldiers prepared to fight to the bitter end in.
defense of cherished institutions, and for the extension of the prin-
ciple of human liberty to all States and classes within the limits of
the threatened Union. This, their zeal, was not animated by hos-
tility to the slave holders of the Southern States, but rather by a
fraternal spirit, akin to that which ur^es the eldest brother to cor-
rect the persistent follies of his juniors, and thus lead them from,
crime to the maintenance of family honor; in this correction, to
draw them away from all that was cruel, diabolical and inhuman in
the Republic, to all that is gentle, holy and sublime therein. Many
of the raw troops were not only unimated by a patriotic feeling,
but also by that beautiful idealization of the poet, who in his un-
conscious Republicanism, said:
" I would not have a slave to till my ground,
To carry me, to fan me while I sleep,
And tremble when I wake, for all the wealth
That sinews bought and sold have ever earned
No : dear as freedom is — and, in my heart's
Just estimation, prized above all price —
I had much rather be myself the slave,
And wear the bonds, than fasten them on him."
Thus animated, it is not a matter for surprise to find the first
call to arms issued by the President, and calling for 75,000 men,
150 HISTOEY OF INDIANA.
answered nobly by the people of Indiana. The quota of troops to
be furnished by the State on the first call was 4,6S3 men for three
years' service from April 15, I860. On the 16th of April, Gov-
ernor Morton issued his proclamation calling on all citizens of the
State, who had the welfare of the Republic at heart, to organize
themselves into six regiments in defense of their rights, and in
opposition to the varied acts of rebellion, charged by him against
the Southern Confederates. To this end, the Hon. Lewis Wallace,
a soldier of the Mexican campaign was appointed Adjutant- General,
Col. Thomas A. Morris of the United States Military Academy,
Quartermaster-General, and Isaiah Mansur, a merchant of Indian-
apolis, Commissary-General. These general officers converted the
grounds and buildings of the State Board of Agriculture into a
military headquarters, and designated the position Camp Morton,
as the beginning of the many honors which were to follow the pop-
ular Governor throughout his future career. Now the people, im-
bued with confidence in their Government and leaders, rose to the
grandeur of American freemen, and with an enthusiasm never
equaled hitherto, flocked to the standard of the nation; so that
within a few days (19th April) 2,400 men were ranked beneath
their regimental banners, until as the official report testifies, the
anxious question, passing from mouth to mouth, was, " "Which of
us will be allowed to go? " It seemed as if Indiana was about to
monopolize the honors of the period, and place the 75.000 men
demanded of the Union by the President, at his disposition. Even
now under the genial sway of guaranteed peace, the features of
Indiana's veterans flush with righteous pride when these days — re-
membrances of heroic sacrifice — are named, and freemen, still un-
born, will read their history only to be blessed and glorified in the
possession of such truly, noble progenitors. Nor were the ladies
of the State unmindful of their duties. Everywhere they partook
of the general enthusiasm, and made it practical so far as in their
power, by embroidering and presenting standards and regimental
colors, organizing aid and relief societies, and by many other acts
of patriotism and humanity inherent in the high nature of woman.
During the days set apart by the military authorities for the or-
ganization of the regiments, the financiers of the State were en-
gaged in the reception of munificent grants of money from pri-
vate citizens, while the money merchants within and without the
State offered large loans to the recognized Legislature without even
imposing a condition of payment. This most practical generosity
HISTOET OF IXDIANA. 151
strengthened the hands of the Executive, and within a very few days
Indiana had passed the crucial test, recovered some of her military
prestige lost in 1S31, and so was prepared to vie with the other
and wealthier States in making sacrifices for the public welfare.
On the 20th of April, Messrs, I. S. Dobbs and Alvis D. Gall re-
ceived their appointments as Medical Inspectors of the Division,
while Major T. J. Wood arrived at headquarters from Washington
to receive the newly organized regiments into the service of the
Union. At the moment this formal proceeding took place, Morton,
unable to restrain the patriotic ardor of the people, telegraphed to
the capitol that he could place six regiments of infantry at the dis-
posal of the General Government within six days, if such a pro-
ceeding were acceptable; but in consequence of the wires being cut
between the State and Federal capitols, no answer came. Taking
advantage of the little doubt which may have had existence in re-
gard to future action in the matter and in the absence of general
orders, he gave expression to an intention of placing the volunteers
in camp, and in his message to the Legislature, who assembled three
days later, he clearly laid down the principle of immediate action
and strong measures, recommending a uote of $1,000,000 for there-
organization of the volunteers, for the purchase of arms and supplies,
and for the punishment of treason. The message was received most
enthusiastically. The assembly recognized the great points made
by the Governor, and not only yielded to them in toto, but also made
the following grand appropriations:
CSeneral military purposes $1,000,000
Purchase of arms 500,000
Contingent military expenses 100,000
Organization and support of militia for two years 140,000
These appropriations, together with the laws enacted during the
session of the Assembly, speak for the men of Indiana. The celerity
with which these laws were put in force, the diligince and economy
exercised by the officers, entrusted with their administration, and
that systematic genius, uuder which all the machinery of Govern-
ment seemed to work in harmony, — all, all, tended to make for the
State a spring-time of noble deeds, when seeds might be cast along
her fertile fields and in the streets of her villages of industry to
grow up at once and blossom in the ray of fame, and after to bloom
throughout the ages. Within three days after the opening of the
extra session of the Legislature (27th April) six new regiments were
organized, an<4 commissioned for three months' service. These reg-
151
HISTORY OF INDIANA.
iments, notwithstanding the tact that the first six regiments were
already mustered into the general service, were known as ''The
First Brigade, Indiana Volunteers," and with the simple object of
making the way of the future student of a brilliant history clear,
were numbered respectively
Sixth Regiment, commanded by Col. T. T. Crittenden.
Seventh " " " " Ebenezer Dumont.
Eighth " " " " W. P. Benton.
Nintk " " " " R. H. Milroy.
Tenth " " " " T. T. Reynolds.
Eleventh " " " " Lewis Wallace.
The idea of these numbers was suggested by the fact that the
military representation of Indiana in the Mexican Campaign was
one brigade of five regiments, and to observe consecutiveness the
regiments comprised in the first division of volunteers were thus
numbered, and the entire force placed under Brigadier General T.
A. Morris, with the following staff: John Love, Major; Cyrus C-
Hines, Aid-de-camp; and J. A. Stein, Assistant Adjutant General.
To follow the fortunes of these volunteers through all the vicissi-
tudes of war would prove a special work; yet their valor and endur-
ance during their first term of service deserved a notice of even more
value than that of the historian, since a commander's opinion has
to be taken as the basis upon which the chronicler may expatiate.
Therefore the following dispatch, dated from the headquarters of the
Army of Occupation, Beverly Camp, W. Virginia, July 21, 1861,
must be taken as one of the first evidences of their utility and
valor : —
"Governor O. P. Morton, Indianapolis, Indiana
Governor: — I have directed the three months' regiments from Indiana to
move to Indianapolis, there to be mustered out and reorganized for three years'
service.
I cannot permit them to return to you without again expressing my high
appreciation of the distinguished valor and endurance of the Indiana troops, and
my hope that but a short time will elapse before I have the pleasure of knowing
that they are again ready for the field. *******
I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
George B. McC'lell.vn,
MajoT-Oeneral, V. S. A,
On the return of the troops to Indianapolis, July 29, Brigadier
Morris issued a lengthy, logical and well-deserved congratulatory
address, from which one paragraph may be extracted to characterize
HISTORY OF INDIANA. 153
the whole. After passing a glowing eulogium on their military
qualities and on that unexcelled gallantry displayed at Laurel Hill,
Phillipi and Carrick's Ford, he says: —
" Soldiers! You have now returned to the friends whose prayers went with you
to the field of strife. They welcome you with pride aud exultation. Your State
and country acknowledge the value of your labors. May your future career be as
your past has been, — honorable to yourselves and serviceable to your country.''
The six regiments forming Morris' brigade, together with one
composed of the surplus volunteers, for whom there was no regi-
ment in April, now formed a division of seven regiments, all reor-
ganized for three years' service, between the 20th August and 20th
September, with the exception of the new or 12th, which was ac-
cepted for one year's service from May 11th, under command of
Colonel John M. Wallace, and reorganized May 17, 1862, for three
years' service under Col. W. H. Link, who, with 172 officers and
men, received their mortal wounds during the Richmond (Ken-
tucky) engagement, three months after its reorganization.
The 13tu Regiment, under Col. Jeremiah Sullivan, was mus-
tered into the United States in 1861 and joined Gen. McClellan's
command at Rich Mountain on the 10th July. The day following it
was present under Gen. Rosencrans and lost eight men killed; three
successive days it was engaged under Gen. I. I. Reynolds, and won
its laurels at Cheat Mountain summit, where it participated in the
decisive victory over Gen. Lee.
The 11th Regiment, organized in 1S61 for one year's service, and
reorganized on the 7th of June at Terre Haute for three years' ser-
vice. Commanded by Col. Kimball and showing a muster roll of
1,131 men, it was one of the finest, as it was the first, three years'
regiment organized in the State, with varying fortunes attached to
its never ending round of duty from Cheat Mountain, September,
1861, to Morton's Ford in 1861, and during the movement South in
May of that year to the last of its labors, the battle of Cold Har-
bor.
The 15th Regiment, reorganized at La Fayette 14th June, 1861,
under Col. G. D. Wagner, moved on Rich Mountain on the lltb
of July in time to participate in the complete rout of the enemy.
On the promotion of Col. Wagner, Lieutenant-Col. G. A. Wood
became Colonel of the regiment, November, 1862, and during the
first days of January 7 , 1863, took a distinguished part in the severe
action of Stone River. From this period down to the battle of Mis-
sion Ridge it was in a series of destructive engagements, and was,
154 DISTORT OF INDIANA.
after enduring terrible hardships, ordered to Chattanooga, and
thence to Indianapolis, where it was mustered out the 18th June,
1^64. — four days after the expiration of its term of service.
The 16th Regiment, organized under Col. P. A. Hackleman at
Richmond for one year's service, after participating in many minor
military events, was mustered out at "Washington, D.C., on the 14th
of May, ^62. Col. Hackleman was killed at the battle of Inka,
and Lieutenant-Col. Thomas I. Lucas succeeded to the command.
It was reorganized at Indianapolis for three years' service, May 27,
1862, and took a conspicuous part in all the brilliant engagements
of the war down to June, 1865, when it was mustered out at New
Orleans. The survivors, numbering 365 rank and file, returned to
Indianapolis the 10th of July amid the rejoicing of the populace.
The 17th Regiment was mustered into service at Indianapolis
the 12th of June, 1861, for three years, under Col. Hascall, who
on being promoted Brigadier General in March, 1S62, left the
Colonelcy to devolve on Lieutenant Colonel John T. Wilder. This
regiment participated in the many exploits of Gen. Reynold's army
from Green Brier in 1S62, to Macon in 1S65, under Gen. Wilson.
Returning to Indianapolis the 16th of August, in possession of a
brilliant record, the regiment was disbanded.
The ISth Regiment, under Colonel Thomas Pattison, was organ-
ized at Indianapolis, and mustered into service on the 16th of
August, 1861. Under Gen. Pope it gained some distinction at
Blackwater, and succeeded in retaining a reputation made there,
by its gallantry at Pea Ridge, February, 1862, down to the moment
when it planted the regimental flag on the arsenal of Augusta,
Georgia, where it was disbanded August 28, 1S65.
The 19th Regiment, mustered into three years' service at the
State capital July 29, ls61, wa3 ordered to join the army of the
Potomac, and reported its arrival at "Washington, August 9. Two
days later it took part in the battle of Lewinsville, under Colonel
Solomon Meredith. Occupying Falls Church in September, 1861,
it continued to maintain a most enviable place of honor on the
military roll until its consolidation with the 20th Regiment, October,
1S64, under Colonel "William Orr, formerly its Lieutenant Colonel.
The 20th Regiment of La Fayette was organized in July, 1S61,
mustered into three years' service at Indianapolis on the 22d of the
same month, and reached the front at Cockeysville, Maryland,
twelve days later. Throughout &lL its orilliant actions from Hat-
teras Bank, on the 4th of October, to Clover Hill, 9th of Aprii, 1S65,
HISTOET OF INDIANA. 155
including the saving of the United States ship Congress, at New-
port News, it added daily some new name to its escutcheon. This
regiment was mustered out at Louisville in July, 1S65, and return-
ing to Indianapolis was welcomed by the great war Governor of
their State.
The 21st Regiment was mustered into service under Colonel I.
"W". McMillan, July 24, 1861, and reported at the front the third
day of August. It was the first regiment to enter New Orleans.
The fortunes of this regiment were as varied as its services, so that
its name and fame, grown from the blood shed by its members, are
destined to live and nourish. In December, 1863, the regiment
was reorganized, and on the 19th February, 1864, many of its
veterans returned to their State, where Morton received them with
that spirit of proud gratitude which he was capable of showing to
those who deserve honor for honors won.
The 22d Regiment, under Colonel Jeff. C. Davis, left Indian-
apolis the 15th of August, and was attached to Fremont's Corps at
St. Louis on the 17th. From the day it moved to the support of
Colonel Mulligan at Lexington, to the last victory, won under
General Sherman at Bentonville, on the 19th of March, 1865, it
gained a high military reputation. After the fall of Johnston's
southern army, this regiment was mustered out, and arrived at
Indianapolis on the 16th June.
The 23d Battalion, commanded by Colonel W. L. Sanderson,
was mustered in at New Albany, the 29th July, 1861, and moved
to the front early in August. From its unfortunate marine ex-
periences before Fort Henry to Bentonville it won unusual honors,
and after its disbandment at Louisville, returned to Indianapolis
July 24, 1865, where Governor Morton and General Sherman
reviewed and complimented the gallant survivors.
The 24th Battalion, under Colonel Alvin P. Hovey, was
mustered at Vincennes the 31st of July, 1861. Proceeding imme-
diately to the front it joined Fremont's command, and participated
under many Generals in important affairs during the war. Three
hundred and ten men and officers returned to their State in August,
1865, and were received with marked honors by the people and
Executive.
The 25th Regiment, of Evansville mustered into service there
for three years under Col. J. C. Veatch, arrived at St. Louis on the
26th of August, 1S61. During the war this regiment was present
at 18 battles and skirmishes, sustaining therein a loss of 352 men
156 BISTORT OF INDIANA.
and officers. Mustered out at Louisville, July 17, 1S65, it returned
to Indianapolis on the 21st amid universal rejoicing.
The 26th Battalion, under W. M. Wheatley, left Indianapolis
for the front the 7th of September, 1S61, and after a brilliant cam-
paign under Fremont, Grant, Heron and Smith, may be said to
disband the 18th of September, 1865, when the non-veterans and
recruits were reviewed by Morton at the State capital.
The 27th Regiment, uuder Col. Silas Colgrove, moved from
Indianapolis to Washington City, September 15th, 1861, and in
October was allied to Gen. Banks' army. From Winchester
Heights, the 9th of March 1S62, through all the affairs of General
Sherman's campaign, it acted a gallant and faithful part, and was
disbanded immediately after returning to their State.
The 28th or 1st Cavalry was mustered into service at Evans-
ville on the 20th of August, 1S61, under Col. Conrad Baker. From
the skirmish at Iron ton, on the 12th of September, wherein three
companies under Col. Gavin captured a position held by a
few rebels, to the battle of the Wilderness, the First Cavalry per-
formed prodigies of valor. In June and July, 1865, the troops
were mustered out at Indianapolis.
The 29th Battalion of La Porte, under Col. J. F. Miller, left
on the 5th of October, 1861, and reaching Camp Nevin, Kentucky,
on the 9th, was allied to RoBseau's Brigade, serving with McCook's
division at Shiloh, with Buell's army in Alabama, Tennessee and
Kentucky, with Roseucrans at Murfreesboro, at Decatur, Alabama,
and at Dalton, Georgia. The Twenty-ninth won many laurels,
and had its Colonel promoted to the rank of Brigadier General.
This officer was succeeded in the command by Lieutenant-Col.
I). M. Dunn.
The 30th Regiment of Fort Wayne, under Col. Sion S. Bass,
proceeded to the front via Indianapolis, and joined General Rosseau
at Camp Nevin on the 9th of October, 1861. At Shiloh, Col.
Bass received a mortal wound, and died a few days later at
Paducah, leaving the Colonelcy to devolve upon Lieuteuant-Col. J.
B. Dodge. In October 1865, it formed a battalion of General Sheri-
dan's army of observation in Texas.
The 31st Regiment, organized at Terre Haute, under Col. Charles
Cruft, in September 1861, was mustered in, and left in a few days
for Kentucky. Present at the reduction of Fort Douelson on the
13th, 11th, and 15th of February, 1S62, its list of killed and
wounded proves its desperate fighting qualities. The organization
HISTOET OF INDIANA. 157
was subjected to many changes, but in all its phases maintained a
fair fame won on many battle fields. Like the former regiment,
it passed into Gen. Sheridan's Army of Observation, and held the
district of Green Lake. Texas.
The 32d Regiment of German Infantby, under Col. August
A\ T illieh. organized at Indianapolis, mustered on the 24th of August,
1861, served with distinction throughout the campaign. Col.
"Willich was promoted to the rank of Brigadier-General, andLieut.-
Col. Henry Von Trebra commissioned to act, under whose com-
mand the regiment passed into General Sheridan's Arm}', hold-
ing the post of Salado Creek, until the withdrawal of the corps of
observation in Texas.
The 33d Regiment of Indianapolis possesses a military history
of no small proportions. The mere facts that it was mustered in
under Col. John Coburn, the 16th of September, won a series of
distinctions throughout the war district and was mustered out at
Louisville, July 21, 1S05, taken with its name as one of the most
powerful regiments engaged in the war, are sufficient here.
The 34tii Battalion, organized at Anderson on the 16th Sep-
tember, 1861, under Col. Ashbury Steele, appeared among the in-
vesting battalions before New Madrid on the 30th of March, 1S62.
From the distinguished part it took in that siege, down to the
13th of May, 1S65, when at Palmetto Ranche, near Palo Alto, it
fought for hours against fearful odds the last battle of the war for
the Union. Afterwards it marched 250 miles up the Rio Grande,
and was the first regiment to reoccupy the position, so long in
Southern hands, of Ringold barracks. In 1865 it garrisoned Bea-
consville as part of the Army of Observation.
The 35th or First Irish Regiment, was organized at Indian-
apolis, and mustered into service on the 11th of December, 1861,
under Col. John C. Walker. At Nashville, on the 22d of May,
1862, it was joined by the organized portion of the Sixty-first or
Second Irish Regiment, and unassigned recruits. Col. Mullen now
became Lieut.-Colonel of the 35th, and shortly after, its Colonel.
From the pursuit of Gen. Bragg through Kentucky and the affair
at Perryville on the 8th of October, 1862, to the terrible hand to
hand combat at Kenesaw mountain, on the night of the 20th of
June, 1861, and again from the conclusion of the Atlanta campaign
to September, 1865, with Gen. Sheridan's army, when it was mus-
tered out, it won for itself a name of reckless daring and unsur-
passed gallantry.
158 HISTORY OF INDIANA.
The 36th Regiment, of Richmond, Ind., under Col. William
Grose, mustered into service for three years on the 16th of Sep-
tember, 1861, went immediately to the front, and shared the for-
tunes of the Army of the Ohio until the 27th of February, 1862,
when a forward movement led to its presence on the battle-field of
Shiloh. Following up the honors won at Shiloh, it participated in
some of the most important actions of the war, and was, in October,
1S65, transferred to Gen. Sheridan's army. Col. Grose was pro-
moted in 1864 to the position of Brigadier-General, and the
Colonelcy devolved on Oliver II. P. Carey, formerly Lieut.-Colonel
of the regiment.
The 37th Battaeion, of Lawrenceburg, commanded by Col.
Geo. W. Hazzard, organized the 18th of September, 1861, left for
the seat of war early in October. From the eventful battle of
Stone river, in December, 1S62, to its participation in Sherman's
march through Georgia, it gained for itself a splendid reputation.
This regiment returned to, and was present at, Indianapolis, on the
30th of July, 1865, where a public reception was tendered to men
and officers on the grounds of the Capitol.
The 38th Regiment, under Col. Benjamin F. Scribner, was mus-
tered in at New Albany, on the 18th of September, 1861, and
in a few days were en route for the front. To follow its continual
round of duty, is without the limits of this sketch ; therefore, it
will suffice to say, that on every well-fought field, at least from
February, 1S62, until its dissolution, on the 15th of July, 1865, it
earned an enviable renown, and drew from Gov. Morton, on return-
ing to Indianapolis the 18th of the same mouth, a congratulatory
address couched in the highest terms of praise.
The 39th Regiment, ok Eighth Cavalry, was mustered in as
an infantry regiment, under Col. T. J. Harrison, on the 28th of
August, 1S61, at the State capital. Leaving immediately for the
front it took a conspicuous part in all the engagements up to April,
1S63, when it was reorganized as a cavalry regiment. The record of
this organization sparkles with great deeds which men will extol
while language lives; its services to the Union cannot be over esti-
mated, or the memory of its daring deeds be forgotten by the un-
happy people who raised the tumult, which culminated in their
second shame.
The 40tii Regiment, of Lafayette, under Col. W. C. Wilson,
subsequently commanded by Col. J. W. Blake, and again by Col.
Henry Learning, was organized on the 30th of December, 1861, and
HISTORY OF INDIANA. 15J
at once proceeded to the front,where some time was necessarily spent
in the Camp of Instruction at Bardstown, Kentucky. In February,
1862, it joined in Buell's forward movement. During the war the
regiment shared in all its hardships, participated in all its honors,
and like many other brave commands took service under Gen.
Sheridan in his Army of Occupation, holding the post of Port
Lavaca, Texas, until peace brooded over the land.
The 41st Regiment or Second Cavalry, the first complete regi-
ment of horse ever raised in the State, was organized on the 3d of
September, 18G1, at Indianapolis, under Col. John A. Bridgland,
and December 16 moved to the front. Its first war experience was
gained en route to Corinth on the 9th of April, 1862, and at Pea
Ridge on the 15th. Gallatin, Vinegar Hill, and Perryville, and
Talbot Station followed in succession, each battle bringing to the
cavalry untold honors. In May, 1S64, it entered upon a glorious
career under Gen. Sherman in his Atlanta campaign, and again
under Gen. Wilson in the raid through Alabama during April,
1865. On the 22d of July, after a brilliant career, the regiment was
mustered out at Nashville, and returned at once to Indianapolis for
discharge.
The 42d, under Col J. G. Jones, mustered into service at Evans-
ville, October 9, 1861, and having participated in the principal
military affairs of the period, Wartrace, Mission Ridge, Altoona,
Kenesaw, Savannah, Charlestown and Bentonville, was discharged
at Indianapolis on the 25th of July, 1865.
The 43d Battalion was mustered in on the 27th of September,
1861, under Col. George K. Steele, and left Terre Haute enrbute to
the front within a few days. Later it was al'ied to Gen. Pope's
corps, and afterwards served with Commodore Foote's marines in
the reduction of Fort Pillow. It was the first Union regiment to
enter Memphis. From that period until the close of the war it was
distinguished for its unexcelled qualifications as a military body,
and fully deserved the encomiums passed upon it on its return to
Indianapolis in March, 1865.
The 44th or the Regiment of the 10th Congressional District
was organized at Fort Wayne on the 24th of October, 1861, under
Col. Hugh B. Reed. Two months later it was ordered to the front,
and arriving in Kentucky, was attached to Gen. Craft's Brigade,
then quartered at Calhoun. After years of faithful service it was
mustered out at Chattanooga, the 14th of September, 1S65.
The 45th, or Third Cavalry, comprised ten companies
1C.0 HISTOBY OF INiHAXA.
organized at different periods and for varied services in 1861-
'62, under Colonel Scott Carter and George H. Chapman. The
distinguished name won by the Third Cavalry is established in
every village within the State. Let it suffice to add that after its
brilliant participation in Gen. Sheridan's raid down the James'
river canal, it was mustered out at Indianapolis on the 7th of Au-
gust. 1865.
The 46th Regiment, organized at Logansport under Colonel
Graham N. Fitch, arrived in Kentucky the 16th of February, 1862,
and a little later became attached to Gen. Pope's army, then quar-
tered at Commerce. The capture of Fort Pillow, and its career
under Generals Curtis, Palmer, Hovey, Gorman, Grant, Sherman,
Banks and Burbridge are as truly worthy of applause as ever fell to
the lot of a regiment. The command was mustered out at Louis-
ville on the 4th of September, 1S65.
The 47th was organized at Anderson, under Col. I. P. Slack, early
in October, 1S62. Arriving at Bardstown, Kentucky, on the 21st
of December, it was attached to Gen. Buell's army; but within two
months was assigned to Gen. Pope, under whom it proved the first
regiment to enter Fort Thompson near New Madrid. In 1864 the
command visited Indianapolis on veteran furlough and was enthu-
siastically received by Governor Morton and the people. Return-
ing to the front it engaged heartily in Gen. Banks' company. In
December, Col. Slack received his commission as Brigadier-General,
and was succeeded on the regimental command by Col. J. A. Mc-
Laughton ; at Shreveport under General Heron it received the sub-
mission of General Price and his army, and there also was it mus-
tered out of service on the 23d of October, 1865.
The 4Sth Regiment, organized at Goshen the 6th of December,
1861, under Col. Norman Eddy, entered on its duties during the
siege of Corinth in May, and again in October, 1862. The record
of this battalion may be said to be unsurpassed in its every feature,
so that the grand ovation extended to the returned soldiers in
1865 at Indianapolis, is not a matter for surprise.
The 49th Regiment, organized at Jeffersonville, under Col. J. "W.
Ray, and mustered in on the 21st of November, 1861, for service,
left en route for the camp at Bardstown. A month later it arrived
at the unfortunate camp-ground of Cumberland Ford, where dis-
ease carried off a number of gallant soldiers. The regiment, how-
ever, survived the dreadful scourge and won its laurels on many
HISTORY OF INDIANA. 16X
a -well-fought field until September, 1865, when it was mustered out
at Louisville.
The 50th Eegiment, under Col. Cyrus L. Dunham, organized
during the month of September, 1861, at Seymour, left en route to
Bardstown for a course of military instruction. On the 20th of
August, 1862, a detachment of the 50th, under Capt. Atkinson, was
attacked by Morgan's Cavalry near Edgefield Junction ; but the
gallant few repulsed their oft-repeated onsets and finally drove
them from the field. The regiment underwent many changes in
organization, and may be said to muster out on the 10th of Septem-
ber, 1S65.
TheSlsT Eegiment, under Col. Abel. D. Streight, left Indianap-
olis on the 11th of December, 1S61, for the South. After a short
course of instruction at Bardstown, the regiment joined General
Buell's and acted with great effect during the campaign in Ken-
tucky and Tennessee. Ultimately it became a participator in the
work of the Fourth Corps, or Army of Occupation, and held the post
of San Antonio until peace was doubly assured.
The 52d Regiment was partially raised at Rushville, and the
organization completed at Indianapolis, where it was consolidated
with the Railway Brigade, or 56th Regiment, on the 2d of Feb-
ruary, 1S62. Going to the front immediately after, it served with
marked distinction throughout the war, and was mustered out at
Montgomery on the 10th of September, 1865. Returning to Indian-
apolis six days later, it was welcomed by Gov. Morton and a most
enthusiastic reception accorded to it.
The 53rd Battalion was raised at New Albany, and with the
addition of recruits raised at Rockport formed a standard regi-
ment, under command of Col. W. Q. Gresham. Its first duty was
that of guarding the rebels confined on Camp Morton, but on
going to the front it made for itself an endurable name. It was mus-
tered out in July, 1865, and returned to Indiananoplis on the 25th
of the same month.
The 51th Regiment was raised at Indianapolis on the 10th of
June, 1862, for three months' service under Col. D.G.Rose. The
succeeding two months saw it in charge of the prisoners at Camp
Morton, and in August it was pushed forward to aid in the defense
of Kentucky against the Confederate General, Kirby Smith. The
remainder of its short term of service was given to the cause. On the
muster out of the three months' service regiment it was reorgan-
162 HISTORY OF INDIANA.
ized for one year's service and gained some distinction, after which
it was mustered out in 1S63 at New Orleans.
The 55th Regiment, organized for three months' service, retains
the brief history applicable to the first organization of the 54th.
It was mustered in on the 16th of June, 1S62, under Col. J. R.
Mahon, disbanded on the expiration of its term and was not reor-
ganized.
The 5Gth Regiment, referred to in the sketch of the 52nd, was
designed to be composed of railroad men, marshalled under J. JVI.
Smith as Colonel, but owing to the fact that many railroaders had
already volunteered into other regiments, Col. Smith's volunteers
were incorporated with the 52nd, and this number left blank in the
army list.
The 57th Battalion, actually organized by two ministers of the
gospel,— the Rev. I. W. T. McMullen and Rev. F. A. Hardin, of
Richmond, Ind., mustered into service on the ISth of Novem-
ber, 1861, under the former named reverend gentleman as Colonel,
who was, however, succeeded by Col. Cyrus C. Haynes, and he in
turn by G. W. Leonard, "WillisBlanch and John S. McGrath, the
latter holding command until the conclusion of the war. The
history of this battalion is extensive, and if participation in a num-
ber of battles with the display of rare gallantry wins fame, the 57th
may rest assured of its possession of this fragile yet coveted prize.
Like many other regiments it concluded its military labors in the
service of General Sheridan, and held the post of Port Lavaca in
conjunction with another regiment until peace dwelt in the land.
The 58th Regiment, of Princeton, was organized there early in
October, 1861, and was mustered into service under the Colonelcy
of Henry M. Carr. In December it was ordered to join Gen-
eral Buell's army, after which it took a share in the various
actions of the war, and was mustered out on the 25th of July, 18C5,
at Louisville, having gained a place on the roll of honor.
The 59th Battalion was raised under a commission issued by
Gov. Morton to Jesse I. Alexander, creating him Colonel. Owing
to the peculiarities hampering its organization, Col. Alexander could
not succeed in having his regiment prepared to muster in before
the 17th of February, 1862. However, on that day the equipment
was complete, and on the 18th it left en route to Commerce, where
on its arrival, it was incorporated under General Pope's command.
The list of its casualties speaks a history, — no less than 703 men
were lost during the campaign. The regiment, after a term char-
HISTORY OF INDIANA. 163
acterized "by distinguished service, was mustered out at Louisville
on the 17th of July, 1865.
The 60th Regiment was partially organized under Lieut. -Col.
Richard Owen at Evansville during November 1861, and perfected
at Camp Morton during March, 1862. Its first experience was its
gallant resistance to Bragg's army investing Munfordsville, which
culminated in the unconditional surrender of its first seven com-
panies on the 14th of September. An exchange of prisoners took
place in November, which enabled it to joine the remaining com-
panies in the field. The subsequent record is excellent, and forms,
as it were, a monument to their fidelity and heroism. The main
portion of this battalion was mustered out at Indianapolis, on the
21st of March, 1S65.
The 61st was partially organized in December, 1S61, under Col.
B. F. Mullen. The failure of thorough organization on the 22d of
May, 1862, led the men and officers to agree to incorporation with
the 35th Regiment of Volunteers.
The 62d Battalion, raised under a commission issued to Wil-
liam Jones, of Rockport, authorizing him to organize this regiment
in the First Congressional District was so unsuccessful that consoli-
dation with the 53d Regiment was resolved upon.
The 63d Regiment, of Covington, under James McManomy,
Commandant ot Camp, and J. S. Williams, Adjutant, was partially
organized on the 31st of December, 1861, and may be considered
on dut}- from its ven' formation. After guarding prisoners at
Camp Morton and Lafayette, and engaging in battle on Manassas
Plains on the 30th of August following, the few companies sent
out in February, 1862, returned to Indianapolis to find six new
companies raised under the call of July, 1862, ready to embrace
the fortunes of the 63d. So strengthened, the regiment went forth
to battle, and continued to lead in the paths of honor and fidelity
until mustered out in May and June, 1865.
The 64th Regiment failed in organization as an artillery corps;
but orders received from the War Department prohibiting the con-
solidation of independent batteries, put a stop to any further move
in the matter. However, an infantry regiment bearing the same
number was afterward organized.
The 65ru was mustered in at Princeton and Evansville, in July
and August, 1S62, under Col. J. W. Foster, and left at once en
route for the front. The record of this battalion is creditable, not
only to its members, but also to the State which claimed it. Its
164 DISTORT OF INDIANA.
last action during the war was on the lSth and 20th of February,
1865, at Fort Anderson and Town creek, after which, on the 22d
June, it was disbanded at Greensboro.
The 66th Regiment partially organized at New Albany, under
Commandant Roger Martin, was ordered to leave for Kentucky on
the 19th of August, 1S62, for the defense of that State against the
incursions of Kirby Smith. After a brilliant career it was mus-
tered out at Washington on the 3d of June, 1865, after which it
returned to Indianapolis to receive the thanks of a grateful people.
The 67th Regiment was organized within the Third Congressional
District under Col. Frank Emerson, and was ordered to Louisville
on the 20th of August, 1S62, whence it marched to Munfordville,
only to share the same fate with the other gallant regiments en-
gaged against Gen. Bragg's advance. Its roll of honor extends
down the years of civil disturbance, — always adding garlands, un-
til Peace called a truce in the fascinating race after fame, and insured
a term of rest, wherein its memberscould think on comrades forever
vanished, and temper the sad thought with the sublime mem-
ories born of that chivalrous fight for the maintenance and integri-
ty of a great Republic. At Galveston on the 19th of July, 1865, the
gallant 67th Regiment was mustered out, and returning within a
lew days to its State received the enthusiastic ovations of her citi-
zens.
The 6Sth Regiment, organized at Greensburg under Major Ben-
jamin C. Shaw, was accepted for general service the 19th of August,
1862, under Col. Edward A. King, with Major Shaw as Lieutenant
Colonel; on the 25th its arrival at Lebanon was reported and with-
in a few days it appeared at the defense of Munfordville; but shar-
ing in the fate of all the defenders, it surrendered unconditionally to
Gen. Bragg and did not participate further in the actions of that
year, nor until after the exchange of prisoners in 1S63. From this
period it may lay claim to an enviable history extending to the end
of the war, when it was disembodied.
The 69th Regiment, of Richmond, Ind., under Col. A. Bickle,
left for the front on the 20th of August, 1S62, and ten days later
made a very brilliant 6tand at Richmond, Kentucky, against
the advance of Gen. Kirby Smith, lusing in the engagement two
hundred and eighteen men and officers together with its liberty.
After an exchange of prisoners the regiment was reorganized under
Col. T. W. Bennett and took the field in December, 1862, under
HISTORY OF INDIANA. 165
Generals Sheldon, Morgan and Sherman of Grant's army. Chick-
asaw, Vicksburg, Blakely and many other names testify to the valor
of the 69th. The remnant of the regiment was in January, 1865,
formed into a battalion under Oran Perry, and was mustered out in
July following.
The 70th Regiment was organized at Indianapolis on the 12th of
August, 1802, under Col. B. Harrison, and leaving for Louisville on
the 13th, shared in the honors of Bruce's division at Franklin
and Russellville. The record of the regiment is brimful of honor.
It was mustered out at Washington, June 8, 1S65, and received at
Indianapolis with public honors.
The 71st ok Sixth Cavalky was organized as an infantry regi-
ment, at Terre Haute, and mustered into general service at Indian-
apolis on the 18th of August, 1862, under Lieut. -Col. Melville D.
Topping. Twelve days later it was engaged outside Richmond,
Kentucky, losing two hundred and fifteen officers and men, includ-
ing Col. Topping and Major Conklin, together with three hundred
and forty-seven prisoners, only 225 escaping death and capture.
After an exchange of prisoners the regiment was re-formed under
Col. I. Bittle, but on the 28th of December it surrendered to Gen.
J. H. Morgan, who attacked its position atMuldraugh's Hill with a
force of 1,000 Confederates. During September and October, 1863,
it was organized as a cavalry regiment, won distinction throughout
its career, and was mustered out the 15th of September, 1S65, at
Murfreesboro.
The 77th Regiment was organized at Lafayette, and left en route
to Lebanon, Kentucky, on the 17th of August, 1862. Under Col.
Miller it won a series of honors, and mustered out at Nashville on
the 26th of June, 1S65.
The 73rd Regiment, under Col. Gilbert Hathaway, was mustered
in at South Bend on the 16th of August, 1882, and proceeded im-
mediately to the front. Day's Gap, Crooked Creek, and the high
eulogies of Generals Rosencrans and Granger speak its long and
brilliant history, nor were the welcoming shouts of a great people
and the congratulations of Gov. Morton, tendered to the regiment
on its return home, in July, 1865, necessary to sustain its well won
reputation.
The 74th Regiment, partially organized at Fort Wayne and made
almost complete at Indianapolis, left for the seat of war on the 22d
of August, 1862, under Col. Charles W. Chapman. The desperate
opposition to Gen. Bragg, and the magnificent defeat of Morgan,
166 HISTORY OF INDIANA.
together with the battles of Dallas, Chattahoochie river, Kenesaw
and Atlanta, where Lieut. Col. JMyron Baker was killed, all bear evi-
dence of its never surpassed gallantry. It was mustered out of ser-
vice on the 9th of June, 1S65, at Washington. On the return of the
regiment to Indianapolis, the war Governor and people tendered it
special honors, and gave expression to the admiration and regard
in which it was held.
The 75th Eegiment was organized within the Eleventh Congress-
ional District, and left Wabash, on the 21st of August, 1862, for the
front, under Col. I. W. Petit. It was the first regiment to enter
Tullahoma, and one of the last engaged in the battles of the Repub-
lic. After the submission of Gen. Johnson's army, it was mustered
out at Washington, on the 8th of June 1865.
The 76m Battalion was solely organized for thirty days' service
under Colonel James Gavin, for the purpose of pursuing the rebel
gnerrilas, who plundered Newburg on the 13th July, 1862. It was
organized and equipped within forty-eight hours, and during its
term of service gained the name, " The Avengers of Newburg."
The 77th, or Fourth Cavalry, was organized at the State capi-
tal in August, 1S62, under Colonel Isaac P. (Tray. It carved its
way to fame over twenty battlefields, and retired from service at
Edgefield, on the 29th June, 1865.
The 79th Regiment was mustered in at Indianapolis on the 2nd
September, 1S62, under Colonel Fred Knefler. Its history may be
termed a record of battles, as the great numbers of battles, from
1862 to the conclusion of hostilities, were participated in by it.
The regiment received its discharge on the 11th June, 1865, at
Indianapolis. During its continued round of field duty it captured
eighteen guns and over one thousand prisoners.
The 80th Regiment was organized within the First Congress-
ional District under Col. C. Denb}'-, and equipped at Indianapolis,
when, on the 8th of September, 1S62, it left for the front. During
its term it lost only two prisoners; but its list of casualties sums
up 325 men and officers killed and wounded. The regiment may
be said to muster out on the 22nd of June, 1865, at Saulsbury.
The 81st Regiment, of New Albany, under Colonel W. W.
Caldwell, was organized on the 29th August, 1862, and proceeded
at once to join BuelPs headquarters, and join in the pursuit of
General Bragg. Throughout the terrific actions of the war its
influence was felt, nor did its labors cease until it aided in driving
the rebels across the Tennessee. It was disembodied at Nashville
HISTORY OF INDIANA. 167
on the 13th June, 1S65, and returned to Indianapolis on the 15th,
to receive the well-merited congratulations of Governor Morton
and the people.
The 82nd Regiment, under Colonel Morton C. Hunter, was
mustered in at Madison, Ind., on the 30th August, 1S62, and
leaving immediately for the seat of war, participated in many of
the great battles down to the return of peace. It was mustered out
at Washington on the 9th June, 1S65, and soon returned to its
State to receive a grand recognition of its faithful service.
The 83rd Regiment, of Lawrenceburg, under Colonel Ben. J.
Spooner, was organized in September, 1862, and soon left en route
to the Mississippi. Its subsequent history, the fact of its being
under fire for a total term of 4,800 hours, and its wanderings over
6,285 miles, leave nothing to be said in its defense. Master of a
thousand honors, it was mustered out at Louisville, on the 15th
July, 1S65, and returned home to enjoy a well-merited repose.
The 84th Regiment was mustered in at Richmond, Ind., on the
8th September, 1862, under Colonel Nelson Trusler. Its first
military duty was on the defenses of Covington, in Kentucky, and
Cincinnati; but after a short time its labors became more con-
genial, and tended to the great disadvantage of the slaveholding
enemy on many well-contested fields. This, like the other State
regiments, won many distinctions, and retired from the service on
the 14th of June, 1865, at Nashville.
The 85th Regiment was mustered at Terre Haute, under Colonel
John P. Bayard, on the 2d September, 1862. On the 4th March,
1S63, it shared in the unfortunate affair at Thompson's Station,
when in common with the other regiments forming' Coburn's Bri-
gade, it surrendered to the overpowering forces of the rebel
General, Forrest. In June, 1S63, after an exchange, it again took
the field, and won a large portion of that renown accorded to
Indiana. It was mustered out on the 12th of June, 1865.
The 86th Regiment, of La Fayette, left for Kentucky on the 26th
August, 1S62, lander Colonel OrvilleS. Hamilton, and shared in the
duties assigned to the 84th. Its record is very creditable, particu-
larly that portion dealing with the battles of Nashville on the 15th
and 16th December, 1S64. It was mustered out on the 6th of June,
1S65, and reported within a few days at Indianapolis for discharge.
The S7th Regiment, organized at South Bend, under Colonels
Kline G. Sherlock and N. Gleason, was accepted at Indianapolis
on the 31st of August, 1862, and left on the same day en route to
16S HISTORY OF INDIANA.
the front. From Springfield and Perryville on the 6th and Sth of
October, 1862, to Mission Ridge, on the 25th of November, 1S63,
thence through the Atlanta campaign to the surrender of the South-
ern armies, it upheld a gallant name, and met with a true and en-
thusiastic welcome - home on the 21st of June, 1865, with a list of
absent comrades aggregating 451.
The 8Sth Regiment, organized within the Fourth Congressional
District, under Col. Geo. Humphrey, entered the service on the
29th of August, 1862, and presently was found among the front
ranks in war. It passed through the campaign in brilliant form
down to the time of Gen. Johnson's surrender to Gen. Grant, after
which, on the 7th of June, 1865, it was mustered out at Washing-
ton.
The 89th Regiment, formed from the material of the
Eleventh Congressional District, was mustered in at Indianapolis,
on the 28th of August, 1862, under Col. Chas. D. Murray, and
after an exceedingly brilliant campaign was discharged by Gov.
Morton on the 4th of August, 1865.
The 90th Regiment, or Fifth Cavalry, was organized at
Indianapolis under the Colonelcy of Felix W. Graham, between
August and November, 1862. The different companies, joining
headquarters at Louisville on the 11th of March, 1863, engaged in
observing the movements of the enemy in the vicinity of Cumber-
land river until the 19th of April, when a first and successful
brush was had with the rebels. The regiment had been in 22 en-
gagements during the term of service, captured 640 prisoners, and
claimed a list of casualties mounting up to the number of 829.
It was mustered out on the 16th of June, 1S65, at Pulaski.
The 91st Battalion, of seven companies, was mustered into
service at Evansville, the 1st of October, 1S62, under Lieut.-Colonel
John Mehringer, and in ten days later left for the front. In
1863 the regiment was completed, and thenceforth took a very
prominent position in the prosecution of the war. During its ser-
vice it lost 81 men, and retired from the field on the 26th of June,
1865.
The 92d Regiment failed in organizing.
The 93d Regiment was mustered in at Madison, Ind., on the
20th of October, 1S62, under Col. De Witt C. Thomas and Lieut.-
Col. Geo. W. Carr. On the 9th of November it began a move-
ment south, and ultimately allied itself to Buckland's Brigade of
HISTORY OF INDIANA. 169
Gen. Sherman's. On the 14th of May it was among the first regi-
ments to enter Jackson, the capital of Mississippi; was next pres-
ent at the assault on Vicksburg, and made a stirring campaign
down to the storming of Fort Blakely on the 9th of April, 1865.
It was discharged on the 11th of August, that year, at Indianapo-
lis, after receiving a public ovation.
The 94th and 95th Regiments, authorized to be formed within
the Fourth and Firth Congressional Districts, respectively, were
only partially organized, and so the few companies that could be
mustered were incorporated with other regiments.
The 96th Regiment could only bring together three companies,
in the Sixth Congressional District, and these becoming incorDO-
rated with the 99th then in process of formation at South Bend, the
number was left blank.
The 97th Regiment, raised in the Seventh Congressional Dis-
trict, was mustered into service at Terre Haute, on the 20th of
September, 1861, under Col. Robert F. Catterson. Reaching the
front within a few days, it was assigned a position near Memphis,
and subsequently joined in Gen. Grant's movement on Vicksburg,
by overland route. After a succession of great exploits with the
several armies to which it was attached, it completed its list of
battles at Bentonville, on the 21st of March, 1S65, and was dis-
embodied at Washington on the 9th of June following. During its
term of service the regiment lost 341 men, including the three
Ensigns killed during the assaults on rebel positions along the
Augusta Railway, from the loth to the 27th of June, 1864.
The 98th Regiment, authorized to be raised within the Eighth
Congressional District, failed in its organization, and the number
was left blank in the army list. The two companies answering to
the call of July, 1862, were consolidated with the 100th Regiment
then being organized at Fort Wayne.
The 99th Battalion, recruited within the Ninth Congressional
District, completed its muster on the 21st of October, 1862, under
.Col. Alex. Fawler, and reported for service a few days later at
Memphis, where it was assigned to the 16th Army Corps. The va-
ried vicissitudes through which this regiment passed and its remark-
able gallantry upon all occasions, have gained for it a fair fame.
It was disembodied on the 5th of June, 1S65, at Washington, and
returned to Indianapolis on the 11th of the same month.
The 100th Regiment, recruited from the Eighth and Tenth
Congressional Districts, under Col. Sandford J. Stoughton, mustered
170
BISTORT OF INDIANA.
into the service on the 10th of September, left for the front on the
11th of November, and became attached to the Army of Tennessee
on the 26th of that month, 1862. The regiment participated in
twenty-five battles, together with skirmishing during fully one-third
of its term of service, and claimed a list of casualties mounting up
to four hundred and sixty-four. It was mustered out of the ser-
vice at Washington on the 9th of June, and reported at Indianapolis
for discharge on the 14th of June, 1S65.
The 101st Regiment was mustered into service at "Wabash on
the 7th of September, 1862, under Col. "William Garver, and pro-
ceeded immediately to Covington, Kentucky. Its early experiences
were gained in the pursuit ofBragg's army and John Morgan's
cavalry, and these experiences tendered to render the regiment one
of the most valuable in the war for the Republic. From the defeat
of John Morgan at Milton on the 18th of March, 1863, to the fall
of Savannah on the 23rd of September, 1863, the regiment won
many honors, and retired from the service on the 25th of June,
1865, at Indianapolis.
THE MORGAN RAID REGIMENTS — MINUTE MEM.
The 102d Regiment, organized under Col. Benjamin M. Gregory
from companies of the Indiana Legion, and numbering six hun-
dred and twenty-three men and officers, left Indianapolis for the
front early in July, and reported at North Vernon on the 12th of
July, 1S63, and having completed a round of duty, returned to In-
dianapolis on the 17th to be discharged.
The 103d, comprising seven companies from Hendricks county,
two from Marion and one from "Wayne counties, numbering 681
men and officers, under Col. Lawrence S. Shuler, was contemporary
with the 102d Regiment, varying only in its service by being mus-
tered out one day before, or on the 16th of July, 1S63.
The 104th Regiment of Minute Men was recruited from mem-
bers of the Legion of Decatur, La Fayette, Madison, Marion and Rush
counties. It comprised 714 men and officers under the command
of Col. James Gavin, and was organized within forty hours after the
issue of Governor Morton's call for minute men to protect Indiana
and Kentucky against the raids of Gen. John H. Morgan's rebel
forces. After Morgan's escape into Ohio the command returned
and was mustered out on the ISth of July, 1863.
The 105th Regiment consisted of seven companies of the Legion
and three of Minute Men, furnished by Hancock, Union, Randolph,
HISTORY OF INDIANA. 171
Putnam, Wayne, Clinton and Madison counties. The command
numbered seven hundred and thirteen men and officers, under Col.
Sherlock, and took a leading part in the pursuit of Morgan. Re-
turning on the 18th of July to Indianapolis it was mustered out.
The 106th Regiment, under Col. Isaac P. Gray, consisted of
one company of the Legion and nine companies of Minute Men,
aggregating seven hundred and ninety-two men and officers. The
counties of Wayne, Randolph, Hancock, Howard, and Marion were
represented in its rauk and file. Like the other regiments organized
to repel Morgan, it was disembodied in July, 1863.
The 107th Regiment, under Col. De Witt C. Rugg, was organ-
ized in the city of Indianapolis from the companies' Legion, or
Ward Guards. The successes of this promptly organized regiment
were unquestioned.
The 108th Regiment comprised five companies of Minute Men,
from Tippecanoe county, two from Hancock, and one from each of
the counties known as Carroll, Montgomery and Wayne, aggregat-
ing 710 men and officers, and all under the command of Col. W. C.
Wilson. After performing the only duties presented, it returned
from Cincinnati on the 18th of July, and was mustered out.
The 109th Regiment, composed of Minute Men from Coles
county, 111., La Porte, Hamilton, Miami and Randolph counties,
Ind., showed a roster of 709 officers and men, under Col. J. R.
Mahon. Morgan having escaped from Ohio, its duties were at an
end, and returning to Indianapolis was mustered out on the 17th
of July, 1863, after seven days' service.
The 110th Regiment of Minute Men comprised volunteers from
Henry, Madison, Delaware, Cass, and Monroe counties. The men
were ready and willing, if not really anxious to go to the front. But
happily the swift-winged Morgan was driven away, and conse-
quently the regiment was not called to the field.
The 111th Regiment, furnished by Montgomery, Lafayette,
Rush, Miami, Monroe, Delaware and Hamilton counties, number-
ing 733 men and officers, under Col. Robert Canover, was not
requisitioned.
The 112th Regiment was formed from nine companies of Min-
ute Men, and the Mitchell Light Infantry Company of the Legion.
Its strength was 703 men and officers, under Col. Hiram F. Iirax-
ton. Lawrence, Washington, Monroe and Orange counties were
represented on its roster, and the historic names of North Vernon
and Sunman's Station on its banner. Returning from tbe South
172 HISTORY OF INDIANA.
after seven clays' service, it was mustered out oil the 17th of
July, 1863.
The 113th Regiment, furnished by Daviess, Martin, Washington,
and Monroe counties, comprised 526 rank and tile under Col. Geo.
"W". Burge. Like the 112th, it was assigned to Gen. Hughes'
Brigade, and defended North Vernon against the repeated attacks
of John II. Morgan's forces.
The 114th Regiment was wholly organized in Johnson county,
under Col. Lambertson, and participated in the aflair of North
Vernon. Returning on the 21st of July, 1S63, with its brief but
faithful record, it was disembodied at Indianapolis, 11 days after
its organization.
All these regiments were brought into existence to meet an
emergency, and it must be confessed, that had not a sense of
duty, military instinct and love of country animated these regi-
ments, the rebel General, John II. Morton, and his 6,000 cavalry
would doubtless have carried destruction as far as the very capital
of their State.
six months' regiments.
The 115th Regiment, organized at Indianapolis in answer to the
call of the President in June, 1S63, was mustered into service on
the 17th of August, under Col. J. R. Mahon. Its service was short
but brilliant, and received its discharge at Indianapolis the 10th
of February, 18G4.
The 116th Regiment, mustered in on the 17th of August, 1863,
moved to Detroit, Michigan, on the 30th, under Col. Charles "Wise.
During October it was ordered to Nicholasville, Kentucky, where it
was assigned to Col. Mahon's Brigade, and with Gen. Willcox's
entire command, joined in the forward movement to Cumberland
Gap. After a term on severe duty it returned to Lafayette and
there was disembodied on the 24th of February, 1864, whither Gov.
Morton hastened, to share in the ceremonies of welcome.
The 117th Regiment of Indianapolis was mustered into service
on the 17th of September, 1S63, under Col. Thomas J. Brady.
After surmounting every obstacle opposed to it, it returned on the
6th of February, 1S64, and was treated to a public reception on
the 9th.
The IISth Regiment, whose organization was completed on the
3d of September, 1S63, under Col. Geo. W. Jackson, joined the
116th at Nicholasville, and sharing in its fortunes, returned to the
HISTORY OF INDIANA. 1 7: 1 ,
State capital on the 14th of February, 1S64. Its casualties were
comprised in a list of 15 killed and wounded.
The 119th, or Seventh Cavalry, was recruited under Col. John
P. C. Shanks, and its organization completed on the 1st of Octo-
ber, 1S63. The rank and file numbered 1,213, divided into twelve
companies. On the 7th of December its arrival at Louisville was
reported, and on the 14th it entered on active service. After the
well-fought battle of Guntown, Mississippi, on the 10th of June,
1864, although it only brought defeat to our arms, General Grier-
son addressed the Seventh Cavalry, saying: " Your General con-
gratulates you upon your noble conduct during the late expedition.
Fighting against overwhelming numbers, under adverse circum-
stances, your prompt obedience to orders and unflinching courage
commanding the admiration of all, made even defeat almost a vic-
tory. For hours on foot you repulsed the charges of the enemies' in-
fantry, and again in the saddle you met his cavalry and turned his
assaults into confusion. Your heroic perseverance saved hundreds
of your fellow-soldiers from capture. You have been faithful to
your honorable reputation, and have fully justified the confidence,
and merited the high esteem of your commander."
Early in 1S65, a number of these troops, returning from impris-
onment in Southern bastiles, were lost on the steamer "Sultana."
The survivors of the campaign continued in the service for a long
period after the restoration of peace, and finally mustered out.
The 120th Regiment. In September, 1S63, Gov. Morton re-
ceived authority from the War Department to organize eleven regi-
ments within the State for three years' service. By April, 1864,
this organization was complete, and being transferred to the com-
mand of Brigadier General Alvin P, Ilovey, were formed by him.
into a division for service with the Army of Tennessee. Of those
regiments, the 120th occupied a very prominent place, both on ac-
count of its numbers, its perfect discipline and high reputation.
It was mustered in at Columbus, and was in all the great battles
of the latter years of the war. It won high praise from friend
and foe, and retired with its bright roll of honor, after the success
of Right and Justice was accomplished.
The 121st, or Ninth Cavalry, was mustered in March 1, 1S64,
under Col. George W. Jackson, at Indianapolis, and though not
numerically strong, was so well equipped and possessed such excel-
lent material that on the 3rd of May it was ordered to the front.
The record of the 121st, though extending over a brief period, is
174: HISTORY OF INDIANA.
pregnant with deeds of war of a high character. On the 26th of
April, 1805, these troops, while returning from their labors in the
South, lost 55 men, owing to the explosion of the engines of the
steamer " Sultana." The return of the 3S6 survivors, on the 5th of
September, 1S65, was hailed with joy, and proved how well and
dearly the citizens of Indiana loved their soldiers.
The 122d Regiment ordered to be raised in the Third Congres-
sional District, owing to very few men being then at home, failed
in organization, and the regimental number became a blank.
The 123d Regiment was furnished by the Fourth and Seventh
Congressional Districts during the winter of 1863-'64, and mus-
tered, March 9, 1864, at Greensburg, under Col. John C. McQuis-
ton. The command left for the front the same day, and after win-
ning rare distinction during the last years of the campaign, par-
ticularly in its gallantry at Atlanta, and its daring movement to
escape Forrest's 15,000 rebel horsemen near Franklin, this regi-
ment was discharged on the 30th of August, 1865, at Indianapolis,
being mustered out on the 25th, at Raleigh, North Carolina.
The 121th Regiment completed its organization by assuming
three companies raised for the 125th Regiment (which was intended
to be cavalry), and was mustered in at Richmond, on the 10th of
March, 1864, under Colonel James Burgess, and reported at Louis-
ville within nine days. From Buzzard's Roost, on the Sth of May,
1S64, under General Schotield, Lost Mountain in June, and the
capture of Decatur, on the 15th July, to the 21st March, 1865, in
its grand advance under General Sherman from Atlanta to the
coast, the regiment won many laurel wreaths, and after a brilliant
campaign, was mustered out at Greensboro on the 31st August,
1865.
The 125th, or Tenth Cavalry, was partially organized during
November and December, 1862, at Vincennes, and in February,
1S63, completed its numbers and equipment at Columbus, under
Colonel T. M. Pace. Early in May its arrival in Nashville was
reported, and presently assigned active service. During September
and October it engaged rebel contingents under Forrest and Hood,
and later in the battles of Nashville, Reynold's Hill and Sugar
Creek, and in 1865 Flint River, Courtland and Mount Hope. The
explosion of the Sultana occasioned the loss of thirty-five men with
Captain Gaffney and Lieutenants Twigg and Reeves, and in a
collision on the Nashville & Louisville railroad, May, 1S64, lost
live men killed and several wounded. After a term of service un-
HISTORY OF INDIANA. 175
surpassed for its utility and character it was disembodied at Vicks-
burg, Mississippi, on the 31st August, 1865, and returning to
Indianapolis early in September, was welcomed by the Executive
and people.
The 126th, or Eleventh Cavalry, was organized at Indian-
apolis under Colonel Robert R. Stewart, on the 1st of March, 1864,
and left in May for Tennessee. It took a very conspicuous part in
the defeat of Hood near Nashville, joining in the pursuit as far as
Gravelly Springs, Alabama, where it was dismounted and assigned
infantry duty. In June, 1S65, it was remounted at St. Louis, and
moved to Fort lii ley, Kansas, and thence to Leavenworth, where it
was mustered out on the 19th September, 1865.
The 127th, or Twelfth Cavalry, was partially organized at
Kendallville, in December, 1863, and perfected at the same place,
under Colonel Edward Anderson, in April, 1S6L Reaching the
front in May, it went into active service, took a prominent part in
the march through Alabama and Georgia, and after a service bril-
liant in all its parts, retired from the field, after discharge, on the
22d of November, 1S65.
The 128th Regiment was raised in the Tenth Congressional Dis-
trict of the period, and mustered at Michigan City, under Colonel
R. P. De Hart, on the 18th March, 1864. On the 25th it was
reported at the front, and assigned at once to Schofield's Division.
The battles of Resaca, Dallas, New Hope Church, Lost Mountain,
Kenesaw, Atlanta, Jonesboro, Dalton, Brentwood Hills, Nashville,
and the six days' skirmish of Columbia, were all participated in by
the 128th, and it continued in service long after the termination
of hostilities, holding the post of Raleigh, North Carolina.
The 129th Regiment was, like the former, mustered in at
Michigan City about the same time, under Colonel Charles Case,
and moving to the front on the 7th April, 1S64, shared in the for-
tunes of the 128th until August 29, 1865, when it was disembodied
at Charlotte, Notrh Carolina.
The 130th Regiment, mustered at Kokomo on the 12th March,
1864, under Colonel C. S. Parrish, left en route to the seat of war
on the 16th, and was assigned to the Second Brigade, First Division,
Twenty-third Army Corps, at Nashville, on the 19th. During the
war it made for itself a brilliant history, and returned to Indian-
apolis with its well-won honors on the 13th December, 1865.
The 131st, or Thirteenth Cavalry, under Colonel G. M L.
Johnson, was the last mounted regiment recruited within the State.
176
IIISTORT OF INDIANA.
It left Indianapolis on the 30th of April, 1864, in infantry trim,
and gained its first honors on the 1st of October in its magnificent
defense of Huntsville, Alabama, against the rebel division of
General Bnford, following a line of first-rate military conduct to
the end. In January, 1S65, the regiment was remounted, won
some distinction in its modern form, and was mustered out at
Vicksburg on the 18th of November, 18G5. The morale and
services of the regiment were such that its Colonel was promoted
Brevet Brigadier-General in consideration of its merited honors.
THE ONE HUNDRED-DATS VOLUNTEERS.
Governor Morton, in obedience to the offer made under his auspices
to the general Government to raise volunteer regiments for one hnn-
dred days' service, issued his call on the 23rd of April, 1864. This
movement suggested itself to the inventive genius of the war Gov-
ernor as a most important step toward the subjection or annihila-
tion of the military supporters of slavery within a year, and thus
conclude a war. which, notwithstanding its holy claims to the name
of Battles for Freedom, was becoming too protracted, and proving
too detrimental to the best interests of the Union. In answer to
the esteemed Governor's call eight regiments came forward, and
formed The Grand Division of the Volunteers.
The 132d Regiment, under Col. S. C. Vance, was furnished by
Indianapolis, Shelbyville, Franklin and Danville, and leaving on
the 18th of May, 1S64, reached the front where it joined the forces
acting in Tennessee.
The 133d Regiment, raised at Richmond on the 17th of May,
1S64, under Col. R. N. Hudson, comprised nine companies, and
followed the 132d.
The 134th Regiment, comprising seven companies, was organ-
ized at Indianapolis on the 25th of Maj, 1S64, under Col. James
Gavin, and proceeded immediately to the front.
The 135th Regiment was raised from the volunteers of Bedford,
Noblesville and Goshen, with seven companies from the First Con-
gressional District, under Col. TV. C. Wilson, on the 25th of May,
1864, and left at once en route to the South.
The ISGtii Regiment comprised ten companies, raised in the
same districts as those contributing to the 135th, under Col. J. TV.
Foster, and left for Tennessee on the 24th of Ma}% 1864.
The 137th Regiment, under Col. E. J. Robinson, comprising
volunteers from Kokomo, Zanesviile, Medora, Sullivan, Rockville,
HISTORY OF INDIANA. 177
and Owen and Lawrence counties, left en route to Tennessee on the
28th of May, 1S64, haying completed organization the day previous.
The IoSth Regiment was formed of seven companies from the
Ninth, with three from the Eleventh Congressional District (un-
reformed), and mustered in at Indianapolis on the 27th of May,
1S64, under Col. J. H. Shannon. This fine regiment was re-
ported at the front within a few days.
The 139th Regiment, under Col. Geo. Humphrey, was raised from
volunteers furnished by Kendallville, Lawrenceburg, EHzaville,
Knightstown, Connersville, Newcastle, Portland, Vevay, New
Albany, Metamora, Columbia City, New Haven and New Phila-
delphia. It was constituted a regiment on the 8th of June, 1864,
and appeared among the defenders in Tennessee during that month.
All these regiments gained distinction, and won an enviable po-
sition in the glorious history of the war and the no less glorious
one of their own State in its relation thereto.
the president's call of JULY, 1864.
The 140th Regiment was organized with many others, in response
to the call of the nation. Under its Colonel, Thomas J. Brady, it pro-
ceeded to the South on the 15th of November, 1S64. Having taken
a most prominent part in all the desperate struggles, round Nash-
ville and Murfreesboro in 1864, to Town Creek Bridge on the 20th
of February, 1865, and completed a continuous round of severe duty
to the end, arrived at Indianapolis for discharge on the 21st of J u!y,
where Governor Morton received it with marked honors.
The 141st Regiment was only partially raised, and its few com-
panies were incorporated with Col Brady's command.
The 142d Regiment was recruited at Fort Wayne, under Col. I.
M. Comparet, and was mustered into service at Indianapolis on the
d of November, 1864. After a steady and exceedingly effective
service, it returned to Indianapolis on the 16th of July, 1865.
THE PRESIDENT'S CALL OF DECEMBER, 1864,
Was answered by Indiana in the most material terms. No less
than fourteen serviceable regiments were placed at the disposal of
the General Government.
The 143d Regiment was mustered in, under Col J. T. Grill, on
the 21st February, 1865, reported at Nashville on the 24th, and af-
ter a brief but. brilliant service returned to the State on the 21st
October, 1865.
178 HISTORY OF INDIANA.
The 144th Regiment, under Col. G. W. Riddle, was mastered in
on the 6th March, 1S65, left on the 9th for Harper's Ferry, took an
effective part in the close of the campaign and reported at Indian-
apolis for discharge on the 9th August, 1S65.
The 145th Regiment, under Col. W. A. Adams, left Indianapolis
on the lSth of February, 1S65, and joining Gen. Steadman's division
at Chattanooga on the 23d was sent on active service. Its duties
were discharged with rare fidelity until mustered out in January,
186G.
The 116th Regiment, under Col. M. C. Welsh, left Indianapolis
on the llth of March en route to Harper's Ferry, where it was as-
signed to the army of the Shenandoah. The duties ot this regiment
were severe and continuous, to the period of its muster out at Bal-
timore on the 31st of August, 1865.
The 117th Regiment, comprised among other volunteers from
Benton, Lafayette and Henry counties, organized under Col. Milton
Peden on the 13th of March, 1865, at Indianapolis. It shared a
fortune similar to that of the 146th, and returned for discharge on
the 9th of August, 1S65.
The 148th Regiment, under Col. N. R. Ruckle, left the State
capital on the 28th of February, 1865, and reporting at Nashville,
was sent on guard and garrison duty into the heart of Tennessee.
Returning to Indianapolis on the 8th of September, it received a
final discharge.
The 149th Regiment was organized at Indianapolis by Col. W.
H. Fairbanks, and left on the 3d of March, 1865, for Tennessee,
where it had the honor of receiving the surrender of the rebel
forces, and military stores of Generals Roddy and Polk. The reg-
iment was welcomed home by Morton on the 29th of September.
The 150th Regiment, under Col. M. B. Taylor, mustered in on the
9th of March, 1865, left for the South on the 13th and reported at
Harper's Ferry on the 17th. This regiment did guard duty at
Charleston, Winchester, Stevenson Station, Gordon's Springs, and
after a service characterized by utility, returned on the 9th of ,'
August to Indianapolis for discharge.
The 151st Regiment, under Col. J. Healy, arrived at Nashville on
the 9th of March, 1865. On the 14th a movement on Tullahoma
was undertaken, and three months later returned to Nashville for
garrison duty to the close of the war. It was mustered out on the
22d of September, 1S65.
The 152d Regiment was organized at Indianapolis, under Col.
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HISTORY OF INDIANA. 181
W. W Griswold, and left for Harper's Ferry on the 18th of March,
1865. It was attached to the provisional divisions of Shenandoah
Army, and engaged until the 1st of September, when it was dis-
charged at Indianapolis.
The 153d Regiment was organized at Indianapolis on the 1st of
March, 1865, under Col. O. H. P. Carey. It reported at Louis-
ville, and by order of Gen. Palmer, was held on service in Ken-
tucky, where it was occupied in the exciting but very dangerous
pastime of fighting Southern guerrillas. Later it was posted at
Louisville, until mustered out on the 4th of September, 1865.
The 154th Regiment, organized under Col. Frank Wilcox, left
Indianapolis under Major Simpson, for Parkersburg, W. Virginia,
on the 28th of April, 1865. It was assigned to guard and garrison
duty until its discharge on the 4th of August, 1865.
The 155th Regiment, recruited throughout the State, left on the
26th of April for Washington, and was afterward assigned to a
provisional Brigade of the Ninth Army Corps at Alexandria. The
companies of this regiment were scattered over the country, — at
Dover, Centreville, Wilmington, and Salisbury, but becoming re-
united on the 4th of August, 1S65, it was mustered out at Dover,
Delaware.
The 156th Battalion, under Lieut-Colonel Charles M. Smith,
left en route to the Shenandoah Valley on the 27th of April, 1865,
where it continued doing guard duty to the period of its muster
out the 4th of August, 1865, at Winchester, Virginia.
On the return of these regiments to Indianapolis, Gov. Morton
and the people received them with all that characteristic cordiality
and enthusiasm peculiarly their own.
INDEPENDENT CAVALRY COMPANY OF INDIANA VOLUNTEERS.
The people of Crawford county, animated with that inspiriting
patriotism which the war drew forth, organized this mounted com-
pany on the 25th of July, 1863, and placed it at the disposal of
the Government, and it was mustered into service by order of the
War Secretary, on the 13th of August, 1863, under Captain L.
Lamb. To the close of the year it engaged in the laudable pursuit
of arresting deserters and enforcing the draft; however, on the
18th of January, 1S64, it was reconstituted and incorporated with
the Thirteenth Cavalry, with which it continued to serve until the
treason of Americans against America was conquered.
182
HISTORY OF INDIANA.
OUR COLORED TROOPS.
The 2Stii Regiment of Colored Troops was recruited through-
out the State of Indiana, and under Lieut. -Colonel Charles S.
Russell, left Indianapolis for the fronton the 24th of April, 1864.
The regiment acted very well in its first engagement with the
rebels at White House, Virginia, and again with Gen. Sheridan's
Cavalry, in the swamps of the Chickahominy. In the battle of
the "Crater," it lost half its roster; but their place was soon filled
by other colored recruits from the State, and Russell promoted to
the Colonelcy, and afterward to Brevet Brigadier-General, when he
was succeeded in the command by Major Thomas II. Logan.
During the few months of its active service it accumulated quite a
history, and was ultimately discharged, on the 8th of January,
1866, at Indianapolis.
BATTERIES OF LIGHT ARTILLERY.
First Battery, organized at Evansville, under Captain Martin
Klauss, and mustered in on the 16th of August, 1861, joined Gen.
Fremont's army immediately, and entering readily upon its salu-
tary course, aided in the capture of 950 rebels and their position
at Blackwater creek. On March the 6th, 1S62 at Elkhorn Tavern,
and on the 8th at Pea Ridge, the battery performed good service.
Port Gibson, Champion Hill, Jackson, the Techc country, Sabine
Cross Roads, Grand Encore, all tell of its efficacy. In 1864 it was
subjected to reorganization, when Lawrence Jacoby was raised to
the Captiancy, vice Klauss resigned. After a long term of useful
service, it was mustered out at Indianapolis on the 18th of August,
1865.
Second Battery was organized, under Captain D. G. Rabb, at
Indianapolis on the 9th of August, 1S61, and one month later pro-
ceeded to the front. It participated in the campaign against Col.
Coffee's irregular troops and the rebellious Indians of the Cherokee
nation. From Lone Jack, Missouri, to Jenkin's Ferry and Fort
Smith it won signal honors until its reorganization in 1864, and
even after, to June, 1S65, it maintained a very fair reputation.
The Third Battery, under Capt. W. W. Frybarger, was organ-
ized and mustered in at Connersville on the 24th of August, 1861,
and proceeded immediately to join Fremont's Army of the Mis-
souri. Moon's Mill, Kirksville, Meridian, Fort de Russy, Alex-
andria, Round Lake, Tupelo, Clinton and Tallahatchie are names
HISTORY OF INDIANA, 1S3
which may be engraven on its guns. It participated in the affairs
before Nashville on the 15th and 16th of December, 1864, when
General Hood's Arm)' was put to route, and at Fort Blakely, out-
side Mobile, after which it returned home to report for discharge,
August 21, 1S65.
The Fourth Battery, recruited in La Porte, Porter and Lake
counties, reported at the front early in October, 1801, and at once
assumed a prominent place in the army of Gen. Buell. Again
under Rosencraus and McCook and under General Sheridan at
Stone River, the services of this battery were much praised, and it
retained its well-earned reputation to the very day of its muster out
— the 1st of August, 1865. Its first organization was completed
under Capt. A. K. Bush, and reorganized in Oct., 1864, under Capt
B. F. Johnson.
The Fifth Battery was furnished by La Porte, Allen, Whitley
and Noble counties, organized under Capt. Peter Simonson, and mus-
tered into service on the 22d of November, 1861. It comprised
four six pounders, two being rifled cannon, and two twelve-pounder
Howitzers with a force of 15S men. Reporting at Camp Gil-
bert, Louisville, on the 29th, it was shortly after assigned to the
division of Gen. Mitchell, at Bacon Creek. During its term, it
served in twenty battles and numerous petty actions, losing its Cap-
tain at Pine Mountain. The total loss accruing to the battery was
84 men and officers and four guns. It was mustered out on the
20th of July, 1864.
The Sixth Battery was recruited at Evansville^ under Captain
Frederick Behr, and left, on the 2d of Oct., 1861, for the front,
reporting at Henderson, Kentucky, a few days after. Early in
1S62 it joined Gen. Sherman's army at Paducah, and participated
in the battle of Shiloh, on the 6th of April. Its history grew in
brilliancy until the era of peace insured a cessation of its great
labors.
The Seventh Battery comprised volunteers from Terre Haute,
Arcadia, Evausville, Salem, Lawrenceburg, Columbus, Vin-
cennes and Indianapolis, under Samuel J. Harris as its first
Captain, who was succeeded by G. R. Shallow and O. H. Mor-
gan after its reorganization. From the siege of Corinth to the
capture of Atlanta it performed vast services, and returned to
Indianapolis on the 11th of July, 1865, to be received by the peo-
ple and hear its history from the lips of the veteran patriot and
Governor of the State.
1S4 BISTORT OF INDIANA.
The Eighth Battery, under Captain G. T. Cochran, arrived at
the front on the 26th of February, 1S62, and subsequently entered
upon its real duties at the siege of Corinth. It served with dis-
tinction throughout, and concluded a well-made campaign under
"Will Stokes, who was appointed Captain of the companies with
which it was consolidated in March, 1S65.
The Xinth Battery. The organization of this battery was
perfected at Indianapolis, on the 1st of January, 1S62, under Capt.
!N. S. Thompson. Moving to the front it participated in the affairs
of Shiloh, Corinth, Queen's Hill, Meridian, Fort Dick Taylor, Fort
de Russy, Henderson's Hill, Pleasant Hill, Cotile Landing, Bayou
Rapids, Mansura, Chicot, and many others, winning a name in
each engagement. The explosion of the steamer Eclipse at Johnson-
ville, above Paducah, on Jan. 27, 1S65, resulted in the destruction of
5S men, leaving only ten to represent the battery. The survivors
reached Indianapolis on the 6th of March, and were mustered out.
The Tenth Battery was recruitefl at Lafayette, and mustered in
under Capt. Jerome B. Cox, in January, 1S61. Having passed
through the Kentucky campaign against Gen. Bragg, it partici-
pated in man}" of the great engagements, and finally returned to
report for discharge on the 6th of July, 1864, having, in the mean-
time, won a veiy fair fame.
The Eleventh Battery was organized at Lafayette, and mus-
tered in at Indianapolis under Capt. Arnold Sutermeister, on the
17th of December, 1861. On most of the principal battle-fields,
from Shiloh, in 1862, to the capture of Atlanta, it maintained a high
reputation for military excellence, and after consolidation with the
Eighteenth, mustered out on the 7th of June, 1S65.
The Twelfth Battery was recruited at Jeffersonville and sub-
sequently mustered in at Indianapolis. On the 6th of March, 1862,
it reached Nashville, having been previously assigned to Buell's
Army. In April its Captain, G. W. Sterling, resigned, and the
position devolved on Capt. James E. White, who, in turn, was suc-
ceeded by James A. Dunwoody. The record of the battery holds
a first place in the history of the period, and enabled both men and
officers to look back with pride upon the battle-fields of the land.
It was ordered home in June, 1S65, and on reaching Indianapolis,
on the 1st of July, was mustered out on the 7th of that month.
The Thirteenth Battery was organized under Captain Sewell
Coulson, during the winter of 1S61, at Indianapolis, and proceeded
to the front in February, 1S62. During the subsequent, months it
HISTORY OF INDIANA.
1S5
was occupied in the pursuit of John H. Morgan's raiders, and
aided effectively in driving them from Kentucky. This artillery
company returned from the South on the 4th of July, 1S65, and
were discharged the day following.
The Fourteenth Battery, recruited in "Wabash, Miami, Lafay-
ette, and Huntington counties, under Captain M. H. Kidd, and
Lieutenant J. W. H. McGuire, left Indianapolis on the 11th of
April, 1SC2, and within a few months one portion of it was cap-
tured at Lexington by Gen. Forrest's great cavalry command. The
main battery lost two guns and two men at Guntown, on the Mis-
sissippi, but proved more successful at Nashville and Mobile. It
arrived home on the 29th of August, 1865, received a public wel-
come, and its final discharge.
The Fifteenth Battery, under Captain I. C. H. Yon Sehlin,
was retained on duty from the date of its organization, at Indian-
apolis, until the 5th of July, 1S62, when it was moved to Harper's
Ferry. Two months later the gallant defense of Maryland Heights
was set at naught by the rebel Stonewall Jackson, and the entire
garrison surrendered. Being paroled, it was reorganized at Indian-
apolis, and appeared again in the field in March, 1863, where it
won a splendid renown on every well-fought field to the close of
the war. It was mustered out on the 24th of June, 1865.
The Sixteenth Battery was organized at Lafayette, under
Capt. Charles A. Naylor, and on the 1st of June, 1862, left for
Washington. Moving to the front with Gen. Pope's command, it
participated in the battle of Slaughter Mountain, on the 9th of
August, and South Mountain, and Antietam, under Gen. McClel-
lan. This battery was engaged in a large number of general en-
gagements and flying column affairs, won a very favorable record,
and returned on the 5th of July, 1865.
The Seventeenth Battery, under Capt. Milton L. Miner, was
mustered in at Indianapolis, on the 20th of May, 1862, left for the
front on the 5th of July, and subsequently engaged in the Gettys-
burg expedition, was present at Harper's Ferry, July 6, 1863, and
at Opequan on the 19th of September. Fisher's Hill, New Mar-
ket, and Cedar Creek brought it additional honors, and won from
Gen. Sheridan a tribute of praise for its service on these battle
grounds. Ordered from Winchester to Indianapolis it was mus-
tered out there on the 3d of July, 1S65.
The Eighteenth Battery, under Capt. Eli Lilly, left for the
186 HISTORY OF INDIANA.
front in August, 1862, but did not take a leading part in the cam-
paign until 1863, when, under Gen. Rosencrans, it appeared prom-
inent at Hoover's Gap. From this period to the affairs of "West
Point and Macon, it performed first-class service, and returned to
its State on the 25th of June, 1S65.
The Nineteenth Battery was mustered into service at Indian-
apolis, on the 5th of August, 1S62, under Capt. S. J. Harris, and
proceeded immediately afterward to the front, where it participated
in the campaign against Gen. Bragg. It was present at every post
of danger to the end of the war, when, after the surrender of John-
son's army, it returned to Indianapolis. Reaching that city on
the 6th of June, 1865, it was treated to a public reception and
received the congratulations of Gov. Morton. Four days later it
was discharged.
The Twentieth Battery, organized under Capt. Frank A. Rose,
left the State capital on the 17th of December, 1862, for the front,
and reported immediately at Henderson, Kentucky. Subsequently
Captain Rose resigned, and, in 1S63, under Capt. Osborn, turned
over its guns to the 11th Indiana Battery, and was assigned to the
charge of siege guns at Nashville. Gov. Morton had the battery
supplied with new field pieces, and by the 5th of October, 1S63, it
was again in the field, where it won many honors under Sherman,
and continued to exercise a great influence until its return on the
23d of June, 1S65.
The Twenty-first Battery recruited at Indianapolis, under the
direction of Captain "W. W. Andrew, left on the 9th of September,
1862, for Covington, Kentucky, to aid in its defense against the
advancing forces of Gen. Kirby Smith. It was engaged in numerous
military affairs and may be said to acquire many honors, although
its record is stained with the names of seven deserters. The battery
was discharged on the 21st of June, 1865.
The Twenty-second Battery was mustered in at Indianapolis
on the 15th of December, 1862, under Capt. B. F. Denning, and
moved at once to the front. It took a very conspicuous part in the
pursuit of Morgan's Cavalry, and in many other affairs. It threw
the first shot into Atlanta, and lost its Captain, who was killed in
the skirmish line, on the 1st of July. While the list of casualties
numbers only 35, that of desertions numbers 37. This battery was
received with public honors on its return, the 25th of June, 1S65,
and mustered out on the 7th of the same month.
HISTORY OF INDIANA. IS 7
The Twenty-third Battery, recruited in October 1S62, and
mustered in on the Sth of November, under Capt. I. II. Myers, pro-
ceeded south, after having rendered very efficient services at home
in guarding the camps of rebel prisoners. In Jul)', 1S65, the battery
took an active part, under General Boyle's command, in routing
and capturing the raiders at Brandenburgh, and subsequently to
the close of the war performed very brilliant exploits, reaching
Indianapolis in June, 1865. It was discharged ou the 27th of that
month.
The Twenty-fourth Battery, under Capt. I. A. Simms, was
enrolled for service on the 29th of November, 1S62; remained
at Indianapolis on duty until the 13thof March, 1S63, when
it left for the field. From its participation in the Cumberland
River campaign, to its last engagement at Columbia, Tennessee, it
aided materially in bringing victory to the Union ranks and made
for itself a widespread fame. Arriving at Indianapolis on the 2Sth
of July, it was publicly received, and in five days later disembodied.
The Twenty-fifth Battery was recruited in September and Oc-
tober, 1864, and mustered into service for one year, under Capt.
Frederick C. Sturm. December 13th, it reported at Nashville, and
took a prominent part in the defeat of Gen. Hood's army. Its
duties until July, 1,865, were continuous, when it returned to
report for final discharge.
The Twenty-sixth Battery, or " "Wilder's Battery," was re-
cruited under Capt. I. T. Wilder, of Greensburg, in May, 1861; but
was not mustered in as an artillery company. Incorporating itself
with a regiment then forming at Indianapolis it was mustered as
company "A," of the 17th Infantry, with Wilder as Lieutenant-
Colonel of the regiment. Subsequently, at Elk Water, Virginia,
it was converted into the ''First Independent Battery," and became
known as " Rigby's Battery." The record of this battery is as
brilliant as any won during the war. On every field it has won a
distinct reputation; it was well worthy the enthusiastic reception
given to it on its return to Indianapolis on the 11th and 12th of
July, 1865. During its term of service it was subject to many
transmutations; but in every phase of its brief history, areputation
for gallantry and patriotism was maintained which now forms a
living testimonial to its services to the public.
The total number of battles in the " War of the Rebellion " in
which the patriotic citizens of the great and noble State of Indiana
were more or less engaged, was as follows:
1S8
HISTORY OF INDIANA.
Locality. No. of Battles. Locality. No. of Battles.
Virginia 90 Maryland 7
Tennessee 01 Texas 3
Georgia. 41 South Carolina 2
Mississippi 24 Indian Territory 2
Arkansas 1!) Pennsylvania 1
Kentucky 16 Ohio > 1
Louisana 15 Indiana 1
Missouri 9
North Carolina 8 Total 308
The regiments sent forth to the defense of the Republic in the
hour of its greatest peril, when a host of her own sons, blinded by
some unholy infatuation, leaped to arms that they might trample
upon the liberty-giving principles of the nation, have been passed
in very brief review. The authorities chosen for the dates, names,
and figures are the records of the State, and the main subject is
based upon the actions of those 267,000 gallant men of Indiana
who rushed to arms in defense of all for which their lathers bled,
leaving their wives and children and homes in the guardianship of
a truly paternal Government.
The relation of Indiana to the Republic was then established;
for when the population of the State, at the time her sons went
forth to participate in war for the maintenance of the Union, is
brought into comparison with all other States and countries, it will
be apparent that the sacrifices made by Indiana from 1861-'65
equal, if not actually exceed, the noblest of those recorded in the
history of ancient or modern times.
Unprepared for the terrible inundation of modern wickedness.
which threatened to deluge the country in a sea of blood and rob,
a people of their richest, their most prized inheritance, the State
rose above all precedent, and under the benign influence of patriot-
ism, guided by the well-directed zeal of a wise Governor and
Government, sent into the field an army that in numbers was
gigantic, and in moral and physical excellence never equaled
It is laid down in the official reports, furnished to the War De-
partment, that over 200,000 troops were specially organized to aid
in crushing the legions of the slave-holder; that no less than 50,000
militia were armed to defend the State, and that the large, but abso-
lutely necessary number of commissions issued was ir,114. All
this proves the scientific skill and military economy exercised by
the Governor, and brought to the aid of the people in a most terri-
ble emergency; for he, with some prophetic sense of the gravity of
the situation, saw that unless the greatest powers of the Union
were put forth to crush the least justifiable and most pernicious
HISTORY OF INDIANA. 189
of all rebellions holding a place in the record of nations, the best
blood of the country would flow in a vain attempt to avert a catas-
trophe which, if prolonged for many years, would result in at least
the moral and commercial ruin of the country.
The part which Indiana took in the war against the Rebellion is
one of which the citizens of the State may well be proud. In the
number of troops furnished, and in the amount of voluntary con-
tributions rendered, Indiana, in proportion and wealth, stands
equal to any of her sister States. " It is also a subject of gratitude
and thankfulness," said Gov. Morton, in his message to the Legis-
lature, " that, while the number of troops furnished by Indiana-
alone in this great contest would have done credit to a first-class
nation, measured by the standard of previous wars, not a single,
battery or battalion from this State has brought reproach upon the
national flag, and no disaster of the war can be traced to any want
of fidelity, courage or efficiency on the part of any Indiana officer.
The endurance, heroism, intelligence and skill of the officers and
soldiers sent forth by Indiana to do battle for the Union, have shed
a luster on our beloved State, of which any people might justly be
proud. Without claiming superiority over our loyal sister States,
it is but justice to the brave men who have represented us on
almost every battle-field of the war, to say that their deeds have
placed Indiana in the front rank of those heroic States which
rushed to the rescue of the imperiled Government of the nation.
The total number of troops furnished by the State for all terms of
service exceeds 200,000 men, much the greater portion of them
being for three years; and in addition thereto not less than 50,000
State militia have from time to time been called into active service
to repel rebel raids and defend our southern border from inva-
sion."
AFTER THE WAR.
In 1867 the Legislature comprised 91 Republicans and 59 Dem-
ocrats. Soon after the commencement of the session, Gov. Morton
resigned his office in consequence of having been elected to the U.
S. Senate, and Lieut.-Gov. Conrad Baker assumed the Executive
chair during the remainder of Morton's term. This Legislature,
by a very decisive vote, ratified the 14th amendment to the Federal
Constitution, constituting all persons born in the country or sub-
ject to its jurisdiction, citizens of the United States and of the
State wherein they reside, without regard to race or color; reduc-
190 HISTORY OF INDIANA
ing the Congressional representation in any State in which tliera
should be a restriction of the exercise of the elective franchise on
account of race or color; disfranchising persons therein named
who shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the
United States; and declaring that the validity of the public debt
of the United States authorized by law, shall not be questioned.
This Legislature also passed an act providing for the registry of
votes, the punishment of fraudulent practices at elections, and for
the apportionment and compensation of a Board of Registration;
this Board to consist, in each township, of two freeholders appointed
by the County Commissioners, together with the trustee of such
township; in cities the freeholders are to be appointed in each
ward by the city council. The measures of this law are very strict,
and are faithfully executed. No cries of fraud in elections are
heard in connection with Indiana.
This Legislature also divided the State into eleven Congressional
Districts and apportioned their representation; enacted a law for
the protection and indemnity of all officers and soldiers of the
United States and soldiers of the Indiana Legion, for acts done in
the military service of the United States, and in the military ser-
vice of the State, and in enforcing the laws and preserving the
peace of the country; made definite appropriations to the several
benevolent institutions of the State, and adopted several measures
for the encouragement of education, etc.
In 1S68, Indiana was the first in the field of national politics,
both the principal parties holding State conventions early in the
year. The Democrats nominated T. A. Hendricks for Governor,
and denounced in their platform the reconstruction policy of the
Republicans; recommended that United States treasury notes be
substituted for national bank currency; denied that the General
Government had a right to interfere with the question of suffrage
in any of the States, and opposed negro suffrage, etc.; while the
Republicans nominated Conrad Baker for Governor, defended its
reconstruction policy, opposed a further contraction of the currency,
etc. The campaign was an exciting one, and Mr. Baker was
elected Governor by a majority of only 961. In the Presidential
election that soon followed the State gave Grant 9,572 more than
Seymour.
During 1S6S Indiana presented claims to the Government for
about three and a half millions dollars for expenses incurred in the
war, and $1,958,917.94 was allowed. Also, this year, a legislative
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HISTORY OF INDIANA. 193
commission reported that $413,599.48 were allowed to parties suf-
fering loss by the Morgan raid.
This year Governor Baker obtained a site for the House of
Befuge. (See a subsequent page.) The Soldiers' and Seamen's
Home, near Knightstown, originally established by private enter-
prise and benevolence, and adopted by the Legislature of the
previous year, was in a good condition. Up to that date the insti-
tution had atforded relief and temporary subsistence to 400 men
who had been disabled in the war. A substantial brick building
had been built for the home, while the old buildings were used for
an orphans' department, in which were gathered 86 children of
deceased soldiers.
DIVOECE LAWS.
By some mistake or liberal design, the early statute laws of
Indiana on the subject of divorce were rather more loose than those
of most other States in this Union; and this subject had been a
matter of so much jest among the public, that in 1870 the Governor
recommended to the Legislature a reform in this direction, which
was pretty effectually carried out. Since that time divorces can
be granted only for the following causes: 1. Adultery. 2. Impo-
tency existing at the time of marriage. 3. Abandonment for two
years. 4. Cruel and inhuman treatment of one party by the other.
5. Habitual drunkenness of either party, or the failure of the hus-
band to make reasonable provision for the family. 6 The failure
of the husband to make reasonable provision for the family for a
period of two years. 7. The conviction of either party of an infamous
crime.
FINANCIAL.
"Were it not for political government the pioneers would have got
along without money much longer than they did. The pressure of
governmental needs was somewhat in advance of the monetary
income of the first settlers, and the little taxation required to carry
on the government seemed great and even oppressive, especially at
certain periods.
In November, 1821, Gov. Jennings convened the Legislature in
extra session to provide for the payment of interest on the State
debt and a part of the principal, amounting to $20,000. It was
thought that a sufficient amount would be realized in the notes of
the State bank and its branches, although they were considerably
depreciated Said the Governor: " It will be oppressive if the
State, after the paper of this institution (State bank) was author-
ized to be circulated in revenue, should be prevented by any assign,
ment of the evidences of existing debt, from discharging at least
so much cf that debt with the paper of the bank as will absorb the
collections of the present year; especially when their notes, after
being made receivable by the agents of the State, became greatly
depreciated by great mismanagement on the part of the bank
itself. It ought not to be expected that a public loss to the State
should be avoided by resorting to any measures which would not
comport with correct views of public justice; nor should it be
anticipated that the treasury of the United States would ultimately
adopt measnres to secure an uncertain debt which would inter-
fere with arrangements calculated to adjust the demand against the
State without producing any additional embarrassment."
The state of the public debt was indeed embarrassing, as the
bonds which had been executed in its behalf had been assigned.
The exciting cause of this proceeding consisted in the machinations
of unprincipled speculators. Whatever disposition the principal
bank may have made of the funds deposited by the United States.
the connection of interest between the steam-mill company and the
bank, and the extraordinary accommodations, as well as their amount,
effected by arrangements of the steam-mill agency and some of
the officers of the bank, were among the principal causes which
(194)
HISTORY OF INDIANA. 295
bad prostrated the paper circulating medium of the State, so far as it
was dependent on the State bank and its branches. An abnormal
state of affairs like this very naturally produced a blind disburse-
ment of the fund to some extent, and this disbursement would be
called by almost every one an " unwise administration."
During the first 16 years of this century, the belligerent condi-
tion of Europe called for agricultural supplies from America, and
the consequent high price of grain justified even the remote pio-
neers of Indiana in undertaking the tedious transportation of the
products of the soil which the times forced upon them. The large
disbursements made by the general Government among the peo-
ple naturally engendered a rage for speculation; numerous banks
with fictitious capital were established; immense issues of paper
were made; and the circulating medium of the country was in-
creased fourfold in the course of two or three years. This infla-
tion produced the consequences which always follow such a scheme,
namely, unfounded visions of wealth and splendor and the wild
investments which result in ruin to the many and wealth to the
few. The year 1S21 was consequently one of great financial panic,
and was the first experienced by the early settlers of the West.
In 1822 the new Governor, William Hendricks, took a hopeful
view of the situation, referring particularly to the "agricultural
and social happiness of the State." The crops were abundant this
year, immigration was setting in heavily and everything seemed to
have an upward look. But the customs of the white race still com-
pelling them to patronize European industries, combined with the
remoteness of the surplus produce of Indiana from European mar-
kets, constituted a serious drawback to the accumulation of wealth.
Such a state of things naturally changed the habits of the people
to some extent, at least for a short time, assimilating them to those
of more primitive tribes. This change of custom, however, was
not severe and protracted enough to change the intelligent and
social nature of the people, and they arose to their normal height
on the very first opportunity.
In 1822-'3, before speculation started up again, the surplus
money was invested mainly in domestic manufactories instead of
other and wilder commercial enterprises. Home manufactories
were what the people needed to make them more independent.
They not only gave employment to thousands whose services were
before that valueless, but also created a market for a great portion
196 HISTORY OF INDIANA.
of the surplus produce of the farmers. A part of the surplus cap-
ital, however, was also sunk in internal improvements, some of
which were unsuccessful for a time, but eventually proved remu-
nerative.
Noah Noble occupied the Executive chair of the State from 1831
to 1837, commencing his duties amid peculiar embarrassments.
The crops of 1832 were short, Asiatic cholera came sweeping along
the Ohio and into the interior of the State, and the Black Hawk war
raged in the Northwest, — all these at once, and yet the work of
internal improvements was actually begun.
STATE BANK.
The State bank of Indiana was established by law January 28,
1S34. The act of the Legislature, by its own terms, ceased to be a
law, January 1, 1857. At the time of its organization in 1834, its
outstanding circulation was $4,208,725, with a debt due to the insti-
tution, principally from citizens of the State, of $6,095,368. During
the years 1857-'5S the bank redeemed nearly its entire circulation,
providing for the redemption of all outstanding obligations; at this
time it had collected from most of its debtors the money which they
owed. The amounts of the State's interest in the stock of the bank
was $1,390,000, and the money thus invested was procured by the
issue of five per cent bonds, the last of which was payable July 1, 1866.
The nominal profits of the bank were $2,7S0,604.36. By the law
creating the sinking fund, that fund was appropriated, first, to pay
the principal and interest on the bonds; secondly, the expenses of
the Commissioners; and lastly the cause of common-school educa-
tion.
The stock in all the branches authorized was subscribed by indi-
viduals, and the installment paid as required by the charter. The
loan authorized for the payment on the stock allotted to the State,
amounting to $500,000, was obtained at a premium of 1.05 per
per cent, on five per cent, stock, making the sum of over $5,000 on
the amount borrowed. In 1S36 we find that the State bank was
doing good service; agricultural products were abundant, and the
market was good; consequently the people were in the full enjoy-
ment of all the blessings of a free government.
By the year 1S43 the State was experiencing the disasters and
embarassment consequent upon a system of over-banking, and its
natural progeny, over-trading and deceptive speculation. Such a
state of things tends to relax the hand of industry by creating false
HISTORY OF INDIANA. 197
notions of wealth, and tempt to sudden acquisitions by means as delu-
sive in their results as they are contrary to a primary law of nature.
The people began more than ever to see the necessity of falling
back upon that branch of industry for which Indiana, especially
at that time, was particularly fitted, namely, agriculture, as the
true and lasting source of substantial wealth.
Gov. Whitcomb, lS43-'49, succeeded well in maintaining the
credit of the State. Measures of compromise between the State
and its creditors were adopted by which, ultimately, the public
works, although incomplete, were given in payment for the claims
against the Government.
At the close of his term, Gov. Whitcomb was elected to the
Senate of the United States, and from December, 1S48, to Decem-
ber, 1S49, Lieut-Gov. Paris C. Dunning was acting Governor.
In 1851 a general banking law was adopted which gave a new
impetus to the commerce of the State, and opened the way for a
broader volume of general trade; but this law was the source of
many abuses; currency was expanded, a delusive idea of wealth
again prevailed, and as a consequence, a great deal of damaging
speculation was indulged in.
In 1857 the charter of the State bank expired, and the large
gains to the State in that institution were directed to the promotion
of common-school education.
WEALTH AND PROGRESS.
During the war of the Rebellion the financial condition of the
people was of course like that of the other Northern States generally.
1S70 found the State in a very prosperous condition. October 31
of this year, the date of the fiscal report, there was a surplus of
S373,249 in the treasury. The receipts of the year amounted to
$3,605,639, and the disbursements to $2,943,600, leaving a balance
of $1,035,2SS. The total debt of the State in November, 1871, was
83,937,821.
At the present time the principal articles of export from the State
are flour and pork. Nearly all the wheat raised within the State
is manufactured into flour within its limits, especially in the north-
ern part. The pork business is the leading one in the southern
part of the State.
When we take into consideration the vast extent of railroad lines
in this State, in connection with the agricultural and mineral
resources, both developed and undeveloped, as already noted, we can
198 HISTORY OF INDIANA.
eee what a substantial foundation exists for the future welfare of
this great commonwealth. Almost every portion of the State is
coming up equally. The disposition to monopolize does not exist
to a greater degree than is desirable or necessary for healthy compe-
tition. Speculators in flour, pork and other commodities appeared
during the war, but generally came to ruin at their own game.
The agricultural community here is an independent one, under-
standing its rights, and " knowing them will maintain them."
Indiana is more a manufacturing State, also, than many imagine.
It probably has the greatest wagon and carriage manufactory in the
world. In 1875 the total number of manufacturing establishments
in this State was 16,S12; number of steam engines, 3,684, with a
total horse-power of 114.961 ; the total horse-power of water wheels,
3S.614; number of hands employed in the manufactories, S6,402;
capital employed, is $117,462,161; wages paid, $35,461,9S7; cost of
material, 8104.321,632; value of products, §301,304,271. These
figures are on an average about twice what they were only five years
previously, at which time they were about double what they were
ten years before that. In manufacturing enterprise, it is said that
Indiana, in proportion to her population, is considerably in advance
of Illinois and Michigan.
In 1870 the assessed valuation of the real estate in Indiana was
$460,120,974; of personal estate, $203,334,070; true valuation of
both, $1,268, ISO, 543. According to the evidences of increase at
that time, the value of taxable property in this State must be double
the foregoing figures. This is utterly astonishing, especially when
we consider what a large matter it is to double the elements of a
large and wealthy State, compared with its increase in infancy.
The taxation for State purposes in 1S70 amounted to $2,943,078;
for county purposes, $4,654,476; and for municipal purposes,
$3,193,577. The total county debt of Indiana in 1870 was $1,127,-
269, and the total debt of towns, cities, etc., was $2,523,934.
In the compilation of this statistical matter we have before us the
statistics of every element of progress in Indiana, in the U. S.
Census Reports; but as it would be really improper for us further
to burden these pages with tables or columns of large numbers, we
will conclude by remarking that if any one wishes further details in
these matters, he can readily find them in the Census Reports of
the Government in any city or village in the country. Besides,
almost any one can obtain, free of charge, from his representative in
HISTORr OF INDIANA. 199
Congress, all these and other public documents in which he may be
interested.
INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS.
This subject began to be agitated as early as ISIS, during the
administration of Governor Jennings, who, as well as all the
Governors succeeding him to 1843, made it a special point in their
messages to the Legislature to nrge the adoption of measures for
the construction of highways and canals and the improvement of
the navigation of rivers. Gov. Hendricks in 1822 specified as the
most important improvement the navigation of the Falls of the
Ohio, the Wabash and White rivers, and other streams, and the
construction of the National and other roads through the State.
In 1826 Governor Ray considered the construction of roads and
canals as a necessity to place the State on an equal financial footing
with the older States East, and in 1S29 he added: "This subject
can never grow irksome, since it must be the source of the bless-'
ings of civilized life. To secure its benefits is a duty enjoined upon
the Legislature by the obligations of the social compact."
In 1830 the people became much excited over the project of con-
necting the streams of the country by " The National New York
& Mississippi railroad." The National road and the Michigan
and Ohio turnpike were enterprises in which the people and Legis-
lature of Indiana were interested. The latter had already been the
cause of much bitter controversy, and its location was then the
subject of contention.
In 1S32 the work of internal improvements fairly commenced,
despite the partial failure of the crops, the Black Hawk war and
the Asiatic cholera. Several war parties invaded the Western
settlements, exciting great alarm and some suffering. This year
the canal commissioners completed the task assigned them and had
negotiated the canal bonds in New York city, to the amount of
8100,000, at a premium of 13^- per cent., on terms honorable to the
State and advantageous to the work. Before the close of tnis year
$54,000 were spent for the improvement of the Michigan road, and
$52,000 were realized from the sale of lands appropriated for its
construction. In 1832, 32 miles of the Wabash and Erie canal was
placed under contract and work commenced. A communication
was addressed to the Governor of Ohio, requesting him to call the
attention of the Legislature of that State to the subject of the
extension of the canal from the Indiana line through Ohio to tfce
200
HISTORY OF INDIANA.
Lake. In compliance with this request, Governor Lucas promptly-
laid the subject before the Legislature of the State, and, in a spirit
of courtesy, resolutions were adopted by that body, stipulating that
if Ohio should ultimately decline to undertake the completion of
that portion of the work within her limits before the time fixed b} r
the act of Congress for the completion of the canal, she would, on
just and equitable terms, enable Indiana to avail herself of the bene-
fit of the lands granted, by authorizing her to sell them and invest
the proceeds in the stock of a company to be incorporated by Ohio;
and that she would give Indiana notice of her final determination
on or before January 1, 1838. The Legislature of Ohio also
authorized and invited the agent of the State of Indiana to select,
survey and set apart the lands lying within that State. In keeping
with this policy Governor iNoble, in 1834, said: "With a view of
engaging in works of internal improvement, the propriety of
adopting a general plan or system, having reference to the several
portions of the State, and the connection of one with the other,
naturally sur*orests itself. No work should be commenced but such
as would be of acknowledged public utility, and when completed
would form a branch of some general system. In view of this
object, the policy of organizing a Board of Public Works is again
respectfully suggested." The Governor also called favorable atten-
tion to the Lawrencebnrg & Indianapolis railway, for which a
charter had been granted.
In 1S35 the Wabash & Erie canal was pushed rapidly forward.
The middle division, extending from the St. Joseph dam to the
forks of the Wabash, about 32 miles, was completed, for about
$232,000, including all repairs. Upon this portion of the line nav-
igation was opened on July 4, which day the citizens assembled
" to witness the mingling of the waters of the St. Joseph with
those of the Wabash, uniting the waters of the northern chain of
lakes with those of the Gulf of Mexico in the South." On other
parts of the line the work progressed with speed, and the sale of
canal lands was unusually active
In 1S36 the first meeting of the State Board of Internal Im-
provement was convened and entered upon the discharge of its
numerous and responsible duties. Having assigned to each mem-
ber the direction and superintendence of a portion of the work,
the next duty to be performed preparatory to the various spheres of
active service, was that of procuring the requisite number of
engineers. A delegation was sent to the Eastern cities, but returned
HISTORY OF INDIANA. OQJ
without engaging an Engincer-in-Chief for the roads and railways,
and without the desired number for the subordinate station; but
after considerable delay the Board was fully organized and put in
operation. Under their management work on public improve-
ments was successful; the canal progressed steadily; the naviga-
tion of the middle division, from Fort Wayne to Huntington, was
uninterrupted; 16 miles of the line between Huntington and La
Fontaine creek were rilled with water this year and made ready for
navigation ; and the remaining 20 miles were completed, except a
portion of the locks; from La Fontaine creek to Logansport prog-
ress was made; the line from Georgetown to Lafayette was placed
under contract; about 30 miles of the Whitewater canal, extending
from Lawrenceburg through the beautiful valley of the White-
water to Brookville, were also placed under contract, as also 23
,inilesof-the Central canal, passing through Indianapolis, on which
work was commenced; also about 20 miles of the southern divis-
ion of this work, extending from Evansville into the interior,
were also contracted for; and on the line of the Cross-Cut canal,
from Terre Haute to the intersection of the Central canal, near
the mouth of Eel river, a commencement was also made on all the
heavy sections. All this in 1836.
Early in this year a party of engineers was organized, and
directed to examine into the practicability of the Michigan &
Erie canal line, then proposed. The report of their operations
favored its expediency. A party of engineers was also fitted out,
who entered upon the field of service of the Madison & Lafayette
railroad, and contracts were let for its construction from Madison
to Vernon, on which work was vigorously commenced. Also, con-
tracts were let for grading and bridging the New Albany & Vin-
cennes road from the former point to Paoli, about 40 miles.
Other roads were also undertaken and surveyed, so that indeed a
stupendous system of internal improvement was undertaken, and
as Gov. Noble truly remarked, upon the issue of that vast enter-
prise the State of Indiana staked her fortune. She had gone too
far to retreat.
In 1S37, when Gov. Wallace took the Executive chair, the
reaction consequent upon '"over work" by the State in the internal
improvement scheme began to be felt by the people. They feared
a State debt was being incurred from which they could never be
extricated; but the Governor did all he could throughout the term
of his administration to keep up the courage of the citizens. He
202 HISTOKY OF INDIANA.
told them that the astonishing success so far, surpassed even the
hopes of the most sanguine, and that the flattering auspices of the
future were sufficient to dispel every doubt and quiet every fear.
Notwithstanding all his efforts, however, the construction of pub-
lic works continued to decline, and in his last message he exclaimed:
" Never before — I speak it advisedly — never before have 3 r ou wit-
nessed a period in our local history that more urgently called for
the exercise of all the soundest and best attributes of grave and
patriotic legislators than the present. * * * The
truth is — and it would be folly to conceal it — we have our hands
full — full to overflowing; and therefore, to sustain ourselves, to
preserve the credit and character of the State unimpaired, and to
continue her hitherto unexampled march to wealth and distinction,
we have not an hour of time, nor a dollar of money, nor a hand
employed in labor, to squander and dissipate upon mere objects of
idleness, or taste, or amusement."
The State had borrowed $3,827,000 for internal improvement pur-
poses, of which $1,327,000 was for the Wabash & Erie canal and
the remainder for other works. The Ave per cent, interest on
debts — about $200,000 — which the State had to pay, had become
burdensome, as her resources for this purpose were only two,
besides direct taxation, and they were small, namely, the interest
on the balances due for canal lands, and the proceeds of the third
installment of the surplus revenue, both amounting, in 1S3S,
to about $45,000.
In August, 1S30, all work ceased on these improvements, with
one or two exceptions, and most of the contracts were surrendered
to the State. This was done according to an act of the Legislature
providing for the compensation of contractors by the issue of
treasury notes. In addition to this state of affairs, the Legisla-
ture of 1839 had made no provision for the payment of interest on
the State debt incurred for internal improvements. Concerning
this situation Gov. Bigger, in 1840, said that either to go ahead
with the works or to abandon them altogether would be equally
ruinous to the State, the implication being that the people should
wait a little while for a breathing spell and then take hold again.
Of course much individual indebtedness was created during the
progress of the work on internal improvement. "When operations
ceased in 1839, and prices fell at the same time, the people were
left in a great measure without the means of commanding money
to pay their debts. This condition of private enterprise more than
HISTORY OF INDIANA. 203
ever rendered direct taxation inexpedient. Hence it became the
policy of Gov. Bigger to provide the means of paying the interest
on the State debt without increasing the rate of taxation, and to
continue that portion of the public works that could be immedi-
ately completed, and from which the earliest returns could be
expected.
In 1840 the system embraced ten different works, the most im-
portant of which was the Wabash & Erie canal. The aggregate
length of the lines embraced in the system was 1,160 miles, and
of this only 140 miles had been completed. The amount expended
had reached the sum of $5,600,000, and it required at least $14,000,-
000 to complete them. Although the crops of 1841 were very
remunerative, this perquisite alone was not sufficient to raise the
State again up to the level of going ahead with her gigantic
works.
We should here state in detail the amount of work completed and
of money expended on the various works up to this time, 1841,
which were as follows:
1. The Wabash & Erie canal, from the State line to Tippe-
canoe, 129 miles in length, completed and navigable for the whole
length, at a cost of $2,041,012. This sum includes the cost of the
steamboat lock afterward completed at Delphi.
2. The extension of the Wabash & Erie canal from the mouth
of the Tippecanoe to Terre Haute, over 104 miles. The estimated
cost of this work was $1,500,000; and the amount expended for the
same $408,855. The navigation was at this period opened as far
down as Lafayette, and a part of the work done in the neighbor-
hood of Covington.
3. The cross-cut canal from Terre Haute to Central canal,
49 miles in length; estimated cost, $718,672; amount expended,
$420,679; and at this time no part of the course was navigable.
4. The White Water canal, from Lawrenceburg to the mouth
of Nettle creek, 76£ miles; estimated cost, $1,675,738; amount
expended to that date, $1,099,S67; and 31 miles of the work
was navigable, extending from the Ohio river to Brookville.
5. The Central canal, from the Wabash & Erie canal, to
Indianapolis, including the feeder bend at Muncietown, 124 miles
in length; total estimated cost, $2,299,853; amount expended,
$568,046; eight miles completed at that date, and other portions
nearly done.
204 HISTORY OF INDIANA.
6. Central canal, from Indianapolis to Evansville on the Ohio
river, 194 miles in length; total estimated cost, $3,532,394; amount
expended, $831,302, 19 miles of which was completed at that date,
at the southern end, and 16 miles, extending south from Iudiauao-
olis, were nearly completed.
7. Erie & Michigan canal, 182 miles in length; estimated cost,
$2,624,823; amount expended, $156,394. No part of this work
finished.
S. The Madison & Indianapolis railroad, over 85 miles in
length; total estimated cost, $2,046,600; amount expended, $1,493,-
013. Eoad finished and in operation for about 28 miles; grad-
ing nearly finished for 27 miles in addition, extending to Eden-
burg.
9. Indianapolis & Lafayette turnpike road, 73 miles in length;
total estimated cost, $593, 737; amount expended, $72,118. The
bridging and most of the grading was done on 27 miles, from
Crawfordsville to Lafayette.
10. New Albany & Vincennes turnpike road, 105 miles in
length; estimated cost, $1,127,295; amount expended, $654,411.
Forty-one miles graded and macadamized, extending from New
Albany to Paoli, and 27 miles in addition partly graded.
11. Jeffersonville & Crawfordsville road, over 164 miles long;
total estimated cost, $1,651,800; amount expended, $372,737.
Forty-five miles were partly graded and bridged, extending from
Jeffersonville to Salem, and from Greencastle north.
12. Improvement of the Wabash rapids, undertaken jointly by
Indiana and Illinois; estimated cost to Indiana, $102,500; amount
expended by Indiana, $9,539.
Grand totals: Length of roads and canals, 1,289 miles, only
2S1 of which have been finished; estimated cost of all the works,
$19,914,424; amount expended, $8,164,528. The State debt at
this time amounted to $18,469,146. The two principal causes
which aggravated the embarrassment of the State at this juncture
were, first, paying most of the interest out of the money borrowed,
and, secondly, selling bonds on credit. The first error subjected
the State to the payment of compound interest, and the people,
not feeling the pressure of taxes to discharge the interest, natu-
rally became inattentive to the public policy pursued. Postpone-
ment of the payment of interest is demoralizing in every way.
During this period the State was held up in an unpleasant manner
before the gaze of the world; but be it to the credit of this great
HISTORY OF INDIANA. 205
''and glorious State, she would not repudiate, as many other States
and municipalities have done.
By the year 1850, the so-called "internal improvement" system
having been abandoned, private capital and ambition pushed for-
ward various "public works." During this year about 400 miles
of plank road were completed, at a cost of $1,200 to $1,500 per
mile, and about 1,200 miles more were surveyed and in progress.
There were in the State at this time 212 miles of railroad in suc-
cessful operation, of which 124 were completed this year. More
than 1,000 miles of railroad were surveyed and in progress.
An attempt was made during the session of the Legislature in
1869 to re-burden the State with the old canal debt, and the matter
was considerably agitated in the canvass of 1S70. The subject of the
Wabash & Erie canal was lightly touched in the Republican plat-
form, occasioning considerable discussion, which probably had
some effect on the election in the fall. That election resulted in
an average majority in the State of about 2,864 for the Democracy.
It being claimed that the Legislature had no authority under the
constitution to tax the people for the purpose of aiding in the con-
struction of railroads, the Supreme Court, in Aoril, 1871, decided
adversely to such a claim.
GEOLOGY.
In 1869 the development of mineral resources in the State
attracted considerable attention. Rich mines of iron and coal were
discovered, as also fine quarries of building stone. The Vincennes
railroad passed through some of the richest portions of the mineral
region, the engineers of which had accurately determined the
quality of richness of the ores. Near Brooklyn, about 20 miles
from Indianapolis, is a fine formation of sandstone, yielding good
material for buildings in the city; indeed, it is considered the best
building stone in the State. The limestone formation at Gosport,
continuing 12 miles from that point, is of great variety, and
includes the finest and most durable building stone in the world.
Portions of it are susceptible only to the chisel; other portions are
soft and can be worked with the ordinary tools. At the end of this
limestone formation there commences a sandstone series of strata
which extends seven miles farther, to a point about 60 miles from
Indianapolis. Here an extensive coal bed is reached consisting of
seven distinct veins. The first is about two feet thick, the next
three feet, another four feet, and the others of various thicknesses.
206 HISTOET OF INDIANA.
These beds are all easily worked, having a natural drain, and they
yield heavy profits. In the whole of the southwestern part of the
State and for 300 miles up the Wabash, coal exists in good quality
and abundance.
The scholars, statesmen and philanthropists of Indiana work-
ed hard and long for the appointment of a State Geologist, with
sufficient support to enable him to make a thorough geological
survey of the State. A partial survey was made as early as 1S37-'S,
by David Dale Owen, State Geologist, but nothing more was done
until 1S69, when Prof. Edward T. Cox was appointed State Geolo-
gist. For 20 years previous to this date the Governors urged and
insisted in all their messages that a thorough survey should be
made, but almost, if not quite, in vain. In 1S52, Dr. Ryland T.
Brown delivered an able address on this subject before the Legis-
lature, showing how much coal, iron, building stone, etc., there
were probably; in the State, but the exact localities and qualities
not ascertained, and how millions of money could be saved to the
State by the expenditure of a few thousand dollars; but "they
answered the Doctor in the negative. It must have been because
they hadn't time to pass the bill. They were very busy. They had
to pass all sorts of regulations concerning the negro. They had to
protect a good many white people from marrying negroes. And as
they didn't need any labor in the State, if it was ' colored,' they
had to make regulations to shut out all of that kind of labor, and
to take steps to put out all that unfortunately got in, and they didn't
have time to consider the scheme proposed by the white people" —
W. W. Clayton.
In 1853, the State Board of Agriculture employed Dr. Brown to
make a partial examination of the geology of the State, at a salary
of S500 a year, and to this Board the credit is due for the final
success of the philanthropists, who in 1S69 had the pleasure of
witnessing the passage of a Legislative act " to provide for a Depart-
ment of Geology and Natural Science, in connection with the State
Board of Agriculture." Under this act Governor Baker immedi-
ately appointed Prof. Edward T. Cox the State Geologist, who has
made an able and exhaustive report of the agricultural, mineral
and manufacturing resources of this State, world-wide in its celeb-
rity, and a work of which the people of Indiana may be very
proud. We can scarcely give even the substance of his report in a
work like this, because it is of necessity deeply scientific and made
up entirely of local detail.
HISTORY OF INDIANA. 207
COAL.
The coal measures, says Prof. E. T. Cox, cover an area of about
6,500 square miles, i:i the southwestern part of the State, and
extend from Warren county on the north to the Ohio river on the
south, a distance of about 150 miles. This area comprises the fol-
lowing counties : Warren, Fountain, Parke, Vermillion, Vigo, Clay,
Sullivan, Greene, Knox, Daviess, Martin, Gibson, Pike, Dubois,
Vanderburg, Warrick, Spencer, Perry and a small part of Crawford,
Monroe, Putnam and Montgomery.
This coal is all bituminous, but is divisible into three well-marked
varieties: caking-coal, non-caking-coal or block coal and cannel
coal. The total depth of the seams or measures is from 600 to S00
feet, with 12 to 14 distinct seams of coal; but these are not all to
be found throughout the area; the seams range from one foot to
eleven feet in thickness. The caking coal prevails in the western
portion of the area described, and has from three to four workable
seams, ranging from three and a half to eleven feet in thickness.
At most of the places where these are worked the coal is mined by
adits driven in on the face of the ridges, and the deepest shafts in
the State are less than 300 feet, the average depth for successful
mining not being over 75 feet. This is a bright, black, sometimes
glossy, coal, makes good coke and contains a very large percentage
of pure illuminating gas. One pound will yield about 4J cubic feet
of gas, with a power equal to 15 standard sperm candles. The
average calculated calorific power of the caking coals is 7,745 heat
units, pure carbon being 8,0S0. Both in the northern and southern
portions of the field, the caking coals present similar good qualities,
and are a great source of private and public wealth.
The block coal prevails in the eastern part of the field and has an
area of about 450 square miles. This is excellent, in its raw state,
for making pig iron. It is indeed peculiarly fitted for metal-
lurgical purposes. It has a laminated structure with carbonaceous
matter, like charcoal, between the lamina, with slaty cleavage, and
it rings under the stroke of the hammer. It is " free-burning,"
makes an open fire, and without caking, swelling, scaffolding in the
furnace or changing form, burns like hickory wood until it is con-
sumed to a white ash and leaves no clinkers. It is likewise valuable
for generating steam and for household uses. Many of the principal
railway lines in the State are using it in preference to any other
coal, as it does not burn out the fire-boxes, and gives as little trouble
as wood.
208 HISTORY OF INDIANA.
There are eight distinct seams of block coal in this zone, three of
which are workable, having an average thickness of four feet. In
some places this coal is mined by adits, but generally from shafts,
40 to 80 feet deep. The seams are crossed by cleavage lines, and
the coal is usually mined without powder, and may be taken out in
blocks weighing a ton or more. When entries or rooms are driven
angling across the cleavage lines, the walls of the mine present a
zigzag, notched appearance resembling a Virginia worm fence.
In 1S71 there were about 24 block coal mines in operation, and
about 1,500 tons were mined daily. Since that time this industry
has vastly increased. This coal consists of 81^ to S3 J percent, of
carbon, and not quite three fourths of one per cent, of sulphur.
Calculated calorific power equal to 8,283 heat units. This coal also
is equally good both in the northern and southern parts of the field.
The great Indiana coal field is within 150 miles of Chicago or
Michigan City, by railroad, from which ports the Lake Superior
specular and red hematite ores are landed from vessels that are able
to run in a direct course from the ore banks. Considering the
proximity of the vast quantities of iron in Michigan and Missouri^
one can readily see what a glorious future awaits Indiana in respect
to manufactories.
Of the cannel coal, one of the finest seams to be found in the
country is in Daviess county, this State. Here it is three and a
half feet thick, underlaid by one and a half feet of a beautiful, jet-
black caking coal. There is no clay, shale or other foreign matter
intervening, and fragments of the caking coal are often found
adhering to the cannel. There is no gradual change from one to
the other, and the character of each is homogeneous throughout.
The cannel coal makes a delightful fire in open grates, and does
not pop and throw off scales into the room, as is usual with this
kind of coal. This coal is well adapted to the manufacture of
illuminating gas, in respect to both quantity and high illuminating
power. One ton of 2,000 pounds of this coal yields 10,400 feet of
gas, while the best Pennsylvania coal yields but 8,680 cubic feet.
This gas has an illuminating power of 25 candles, while the best
Pennsylvania coal gas has that of only 17 candles.
Cannel coal is also found in great abundance in Perry, Greene,
Parkeaud Fountain counties, where its commercial value has already
been demonstrated.
Numerous deposits of bog iron ore are found in the northern part
of the State, and clay iron-stones and impure carbonates and brown
HISTORY OF INDIANA. 20&
oxides arc found scattered in the vicinity of the coal field. In some
places the beds are quite thick and of considerable commercial
value.
An abundance of excellent lime is also found in Indiana, espe-
cially in Huntington county, where many large kilns are kept in
profitable operation.
AGRICULTURAL.
In 1852 the Legislature passed an act authorizing the organization
of county and district agricultural societies, and also establishing a
State Board, the provisions of which actare substantially as follows:
1. Thirty or more persons in any one or two counties organizing
into a society for the improvement of agriculture, adopting a consti-
tution and by-laws agreeable to the regulations prescribed by the
State Board, and appointing the proper officers and raising a sum
of $50 for its own treasury, shall be entitled to the same amount
from the fund arising from show licenses in their respective
counties.
2. These societies shall offer annual premiums for improvement
of soils, tillage, crops, manures, productions, stock, articles of
domestic industry, and such other articles, productions and improve-
ments as they may deem proper; they shall encourage, by grant
of rewards, agricultural andhousehold manufacturing interests, and
so regulate the premiums that small farmers will have equal
opportunity with the large; and they shall pay special attention to
cost and profit of the inventions and improvements, requiring an
exact, detailed statement of the processes competing for rewards.
3. They shall publish in a newspaper annually their list of
awards and an abstract of their treasurers' accounts, and' they shall
report in full to the State Board their proceedings. Failing to do
the latter they shall receive no payment from their county funds.
STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.
The act of Feb. 17, 1S52, also established a State Board of Agri-
culture, with perpetual succession; its annual meetings to be held
at Indianapolis on the first Thursday after the first Monday in
January, when the reports of the county societies are to be received
and agricultural interests discussed and determined upon; it shall
make an annual report to the Legislature of receipts, expenses,
proceedings, etc., of its own meeting as well as of those of the local
210 HISTORY OF INDIANA.
societies; it shall hold State fairs, at such times and places as they
may deem proper; may hold two meetings a year, certifying to the
State Auditor their expenses, who shall draw his warrant upon the
Treasurer for the same.
In 1861 the State Board adopted certain rules, emhracing ten
sections, for the government of local societies, hut in 1868 they
were found inexpedient and abandoned. It adopted a resolution
admitting delegates from the local societies.
THE EXPOSITION.
As the Board found great difficulty in doing justice to exhibitors
without an adequate building, the members went earnestly to work
in the fall of 1872 to get up an interest in the matter. They
appointed a committee of five to confer with the Councilor citizens
of Indianapolis as to the best mode to be devised for a more
thorough and complete exhibition of the industries of the State.
The result of the conference was that the time had arrived for a
regular " exposition," like that of the older States. At the Janu-
ary meeting in 1873, Hon. Thomas Dowling, of Terre Haute,
reported for the committee that they found a general interest in
this enterprise, not only at the capital, but also throughout the
State. A sub-committee was appointed who devised plans and
specifications for the necessary structure, taking lessons mainly
from the Kentucky Exposition building at Louisville. All the
members of the State Board were in favor of proceeding with the
building except Mr. Poole, who feared that, as the interest of the
two enterprises were somewhat conflicting, and the Exposition being
the more exciting show, it would swallow up the State and county
fai rs.
The Exposition was opened Sept. 10, 1S73, when Hon. John
Sutherland, President of the Board, the Mayor of Indianapolis,
Senator Morton and Gov. Hendricks delivered addresses. Senator
Morton took the high ground that the money spent for an exposi-
tion is spent as strictly for educational purposes as that which goes
directly into the common school. The exposition is not a mere
show, to be idly gazed upon, but an industrial school where one
should study and learn. lie thought that Indiana had less untill-
able land than any other State in the Union; 'twas as rich as any
and yielded a greater variety of products; and that Indiana was
the most prosperous agricultural community in the United States.
HISTORY OF INDIANA. 211
The State had nearly 3,700 miles of railroad, not counting side-
track, with 400 miles more under contract for building. In 15
or 18 months one cau go from Indianapolis to every county in
the State by railroad. Indiana has 6,500 square miles of coal field?
450 of which contain block coal, the best in the United States for
manufacturing purposes.
On the subject of cheap transportation, he said: " By the census
of 1870, Pennsylvania had, of domestic animals of all kinds, 4,006,-
589, and Indiana, 4,511,094. Pennsylvania had grain to the amount
of 60,460,000 bushels, while Indiana had 79,350,454. The value of
the farm products of Pennsylvania was estimated to be $183,946,-
000; those of Indiana, $122,914,000. Thus you see that while
Indiana had 505,000 head of live stock more, and 19,000,000
bushels of grain more than Pennsylvania, yet the products of Penn-
sylvania are estimated at $183,946,000, on account of her greater
proximity to market, while those of Indiana are estimated at only
$122,914,000. Thus you can understand the importance of cheap
transportation to Indiana.*
" Let us see how the question of transportation affects us on the
other hand, with reference to the manufacturer of Bessemer steel.
Of the 174,000 tons of iron ore used in the blast furnaces of Pitts-
burg last year, 84,000 tons came from Lake Superior, 64,000 tons
from Iron Mountain, Missouri, 20,000 tons from Lake Champlain,
and less than 5,000 tons from the home mines of Pennsylvania.
They cannot manufacture their iron with the coal they have in
Pennsylvania without coking it. We have coal in Indiana with
which we can, in its raw state, make the best of iron; while we are
250 miles nearer Lake Superior than Pittsburg, and 430 miles
nearer to Iron Mountain. So that the question of transportation
determines the tact that Indiana must become the great center for
the manufacture of Bessemer steel."
"What we want in this country is diversified labor.''
The grand hall of the Exposition buildings is on elevated ground
at the head of Alabama street, and commands a fine view of the
city. The structure is of brick, 30S feet long by 150 in width, and
two stories high. Its elevated galleries extend quite around the
building, under the roof, thus affording visitors an opportunity to
secure the most commanding view to be had in the city. The
lower floor of the grand hall is occupied by the mechanical, geologi-
cal and miscellaneous departments, and by the offices of the Board,
which extend along the entire front. The second floor, which is
212 I1IST0RY OF INDIANA.
approached by three wide stairways, accommodates the fine art,
musical and other departments of light mechanics, and is brilliantly
lighted by windows and skylights. But as we are here entering
the description of a subject magnificent to behold, we enter a
description too vast to complete, and we may as well stop here as
anywhere.
The Presidents of the State Fairs have been: Gov. J. A. "Wright,
1852'4; Gen. Jos. Orr, 1855; Dr. A. C. Stevenson, 1856-'8; G. D.
"Wagner; 1859-60; D. P. Kolloway, 1861; Jas. D.Williams, 1862,
1870-'l; A. D. Ilamrick, 1863, 1867-'9; Stearns Fisher, lS64-'6;
John Sutherland, 1872-'4; "Wm. Crirn, 1875. Secretaries: JohnB.
Dillon. lS52-'3, 1855, lS5S-'9; Ignatius Brown, 185o-'7; "W. T. Den-
nis, 1854, 1860-'l; W.H. Loomis, 1862-'6; A. J. Holmes, 1867-'9;
Joseph Poole, 1870-'l; Alex. Heron, 1S72'5. Place of fair, Indian-
apolis every year except: Lafayette, 1853; Madison, 1854; New
Albany, 1859; Fort "Wayne, 1S65; and Terre Haute, 1S67. In
1861 there was no fair. The gate and entry receipts increased from
$4,651 in 1852 to $45,330 in 1874
On the opening of the Exposition, Oct. 7, 1874, addresses were
delivered by the President of the Board, Hon. John Sutherland,
and by Govs. Hendricks, Bigler and Pollock. Yvon's celebrated
painting, the " Great Republic," was unveiled with great ceremony,
and many distinguished guests were present to witness it.
The exhibition of 1875 showed that the plate glass from the
southern part of the State was equal to the finest French plate; that
the force-blowers made in the eastern part of the State was of a
world-wide reputation; that the State has within its bounds the
largest wagon manufactory in the world ; that in other parts of the
State there were all sorts and sizes of manufactories, including roll-
ing mills and blast furnaces, and in the western part coal was mined
and shipped at the rate of 2,500 tons a day from one vicinity; and
many other facts, which " would astonish the citizens of Indiana
themselves even more than the rest of the world."
INDIANA HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
This society was organized in 1S12, thus taking the lead in the
"West. At this time Henry "Ward Beecher was a resident of Indian-
apolis, engaged not only as a minister but also as editor of the
Indiana Farmer and Gardener, and his influence was very exten-
sive in the interests of horticulture, floriculture and farming.
Prominent among his pioneer co-laborers were Judge Coburn,
HISTOET OF INDIANA. 213
Aaron Aldridge, Capt. James Sigarson, D. V. Culley, Reuben
Ragan, Stephen Hampton, Cornelius Ratliff, Joshua Lindley,
Abner Pope and many others. In the autumn of this year the
society held an exhibition, probably the first in the State, if not
in the West, in the hall of the new State house. The only pre-
mium offered was a set of silver teaspoons for the best seedling
apple, which was won by Reuben Ragan, of Putnam county, for
an apple christened on this occasion the " Osceola."
The society gave great encouragement to the introduction of
new varieties of fruit, especially of the pear, as the soil and cli-
mate of Indiana were well adapted to this fruit. But the bright
horizon which seemed to be at this time looming up all around the
field of the young society's operations was suddenly and thoroughly
darkened by the swarm of noxious insects, diseases, blasts of win-
ter and the great distance to market. The prospects of the cause
scarcely justified a continuation of the expense of assembling from
remote parts of the State, and the meetings of the society therefore
soon dwindled away until the organization itself became quite,
extinct.
But when, in 1S52 and afterward, railroads began to traverse the
State in all directions, the Legislature provided for the organization
of a State Board of Agriculture, whose scope was not only agri-
culture but also horticulture and the mechanic and household arts.
The rapid growth of the State soon necessitated a differentiation of
this body, and in the autumn of 1860, at Indianapolis, there was
organized the
INDIANA POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.
October 18, Reuben Ragan was elected President and fm H.
Loomis, of Marion county, Secretary. The constitution adopted
provided for biennial meetings in January, at Indianapolis. At
the first regular meeting, Jan. 9, 1861, a committee-man for each
congressional district was appointed, all of them together to be
known as the " State Fruit Committee," and twenty-five members
were enrolled during this session. At the regular meeting in 1863
the constitution was so amended as to provide for annual sessions,
and the address of the newly elected President, Hon. I. G. D. Nel-
son, of Allen county, urged the establishment of an agricultural
college. He continued in the good cause until his work was
crowned with success.
214 HISTORY OF INDIANA.
In 1S64 there was but little done on account of the exhaust-
ive demands of the great war; and the descent of mercury 60° in
eighteen hours did so much mischief as to increase the discourage-
ment to the verge of despair. The title of the society was at this
meeting, Jan., 1864 changed to that of the Indiana Horticultural
Society.
The first several meetings of the society were mostly devoted to
revision of fruit lists; and although the good work, from its vast-
ness and complication, became somewhat monotonous, it has been
no exception in this respect to the law that all the greatest and
most productive labors of mankind require perseverance and toil.
In 18G6, George M. Beeler, who had so indefatigably served as
secretary for several years, saw himself hastening to his grave, and
showed his love for the cause of fruit culture by bequeathing to
the society the sum of §1,000. This year also the State Superin-
tendent of Public Instruction was induced to take a copy of the
Society's transactions for each of the township libraries in the State,
and this enabled the Society to bind its volume of proceedings in
a substantial manner.
At the meeting in 1867 many valuable and interesting papers
were presented, the office of corresponding secretary was created,
and the subject of Legislative aid was discussed. The State Board
of Agriculture placed the management of the horticultural depart-
ment of the State fair in the care of the Society.
The report for 1868 shows for the first time a balance on hand,
after paying expenses, the balance being $61.55. Up to this time
the Society had to take care of itself, — meeting current expenses, do-
ing its own printing and binding, "boarding and clothing itself,"
and diffusing annually an amount of knowledge utterly incalcu-
lable. During the year called meetings were held at Salem, in the
peach and grape season, and evenings during the State fair, which
was held in Terre Haute the previous fall. The State now assumed
the cost of printing and binding, but the volume of transactions
was not quite so valuable as that of the former year.
In 1870 $160 was given to this Society by the State Board of
Agriculture, to be distributed as prizes for essays, which object
was faithfully carried out. The practice has since then been con-
tinued.
In 1871 the Horticultural Society brought out the best voiumo
of papers and proceedings it ever has had published.
HISTORY OF INDIANA. 215
In 1872 the office of corresponding secretary was discontinued ;
the appropriation by the State Board of Agriculture diverted to
the payment of premiums on small fruits given at a show held the
previous summer; results of the exhibition not entirely satisfac-
tory.
In 1873 the State officials refused to publish the discussions of
the members of the Horticultural Society, and the Legislature
appropriated $500 for the purpose for each of the ensuing two
years.
In 1S75 the Legislature enacted a law requiring that one of the ,
trustees of Purdue University shall be selected by the Horticultu-
ral Society.
The aggregate annual membership of this society from its organ-
ization in 1860 to 1S75 was 1,225.
EDUCATION.
The subject of education has been referred to in almost every
gubernatorial message from the organization of the Territory to
the present time. It is indeed the most favorite enterprise of the
Hoosier State. In the first survey of Western lands, Congress set
apart a section of land in every township, generally the 16th, for
school purposes, the disposition of the land to be in hands of the
residents of the respective townships. Besides this, to this State
were given two entire townships for the use of a State Seminary,
to be under the control of the Legislature. Also, the State con-
stitution provides that all fines for the breach of law and all com-
mutations for militia service be appropriated to the use of county
seminaries. In 1825 the common-school lands amounted to
680,207 acres, estimated at $2 an acre, and valued therefore at
$1,216,044. At this time the seminary at Bloomington, supported
in part by one of these township grants, was very flourishing. The
common schools, however, were in rather a poor condition.
PUBLIC SCHOOLS.
In 1852 the free-school system was fully established, which has
resulted in placing Indiana in the lead of this great nation. Al-
though this is a pleasant subject, it is a very large one to treat in
a condensed notice, as this has to be.
The free-school system of Indiana first became practically oper-
ative the first Monday of April, 1853, when the township trustees
216 HISTORY OF INDIANA.
for school purposes were elected through the State. The law com-
mitted to them the charge of all the educational affairs in their
respective townships. As it was feared by the opponents of the
law that it would not be possible to select men in all the town-
ships capable of executing the school laws satisfactorily, the
people were thereby awakened to the necessity of electing their
very best men; and although, of course, many blunders have been
made by trustees, the operation of the law has tended to elevate the
adult population as well as the youth; and Indiana still adheres to
the policy of appointing its best men to educational positions.
The result is a grand surprise to all old fogies, who indeed scarcely
dare to appear such any longer.
To instruct the people in the new law and set the educational
machinery going, a pamphlet of over 60 pages, embracing the law,
with notes and explanations, was issued from the office of a super-
intendent of public instruction, and distributed freely throughout
the State. The first duty of the Board of Trustees was to establish
and conveniently locate a sufficient number of schools for the edu-
cation of all the children of their township. But where were the
school-houses, and what were they? Previously they had been
erected by single districts, but undm* this law districts were abol-
ished, their lines obliterated, and houses previously built by dis-
tricts became the property of the township, and all the houses were
to be built at the expense of the township by an appropriation of
township funds by the trustees. In some townships there was not
a single school-house of any kind, and in others there were a few
old, leaky, dilapidated log cabins, wholly unfit for use even in sum-
mer, and in " winter worse than nothing." Before the people could
be tolerably accommodated with schools at least 3,500 school-houses
had to be erected in the State.
By a general law, enacted in conformity to the constitution of
1S52, each township was made a municipal corporation, and every
voter in the township a member of the corporation; the Board of
Trustees constituted the township legislature as well as the execu-
tive body, the whole body of voters, however, exercising direct con-
trol through frequent meetings called by the trustees. Special
taxes and every other matter of importance were directly voted
upon.
Some tax-payers, who were opposed to special townships' taxes,
retarded the progress of schools by refusing to pay their assess-
ment. Contracts for building school-houses were given up, houses
HISTORY OF INDIANA. 217
half finished were abandoned, and in many townships all 6chool
operations were suspended. In some of them, indeed, a rumor was
circulated by the enemies of the law that the entire school law from
beginning to end bad been declared by the Supreme Court \incon-
stitutional and void; and the Trustees, believing this, actually dis-
missed their schools and considered themselves out of office. Hon.
W. C. Larrabee, the (first) Superintendent of Public Instruction,
corrected this error as soon as possible.
But while the voting of special taxes was doubted on a constitu-
tional point, it became evident that it was weak in a practical point;
for in many townships the opponents of the system voted down every
proposition for the erection of school-houses.
Another serious obstacle was the great deficiency in the number
of qualified teachers. To meet the newly created want, the law
authorized the appointment of deputies in each county to examine
and license persons to teach, leaving it in their judgment to lower
the standard of qualification sufficiently to enable them to license
as many as were needed to supply all the schools. It was therefore
found necessary to employ many " unqualified " teachers, especially
in the remote rural districts. But the progress of the times
enabled the Legislature of 1853 to erect a standard of qualifica-
tion and give to the county commissioners the authority to license
teachers; and in order to supply every school with a teacher, while
there might not be a sufficient number of properly qualified teach-
ers, the commissioners were authorized to grant temporary licenses
to take charge of particular schools not needing a high grade of
teachers.
In 1854 the available common-school fund consisted of the con-
gressional township fund, the surplus revenue fund, the saline
fund, the bank tax fund and miscellaneous fund, amounting in all
to $2,-1-00,000. This amount, from many sources, was subsequently
increased to a very great extent. The common-school fund was
intrusted to the several counties of the State, which were held
responsible for the preservation thereof and for the payment of the
annual interest thereon. The fund was managed by the auditors
and treasurers of the several counties, for which these officers were
allowed one-tenth of the income. It was loaned out to the citizens
of the county in sums not exceeding $300, on real estate security.
The common-school fund was thus consolidated and the proceeds
equally distributed eacli year to all the townships, cities and towns
21S HISTORY OF INDIANA.
of the State, in proportion to the number of children. This phase
of the law met with considerable opposition in 1S54.
The provisions of the law for the establishment of township
libraries was promptly carried into effect, and much time, labor
and thought were devoted to the selection of books, special atten-
tion being paid to historical works.
The greatest need in 1S54 was for qualified teachers; but never-
theless the progress of public education during this and following
years was very great. School-houses were erected, many of them
being fine structures, well furnished, and the libraries were consid-
erably enlarged.
The city school system of Indiana received a heavy set-back in
185S, by a decision of the Supreme Court of the State, that the
law authorizing cities and townships to levy a tax additional to the
State tax was not in conformity with that clause in the Constitu-
tion which required uniformit}^ in taxation. The schools were
stopped for want of adequate funds. For a few weeks in each year
thereafter the feeble " uniform " supply from the State fund en-
abled the people to open the schools, but considering the returns
the public realizes for so small an outlay in educational matters,
this proved more expensive than ever. Private schools increased,
but the attendance was small. Thus the interests of popular edu-
cation languished for years. But since the revival of the free
schools, the State fund has grown to vast proportions, and the
schools of this intelligent and enterprising commonwealth compare
favorably with those of any other portion of the United States.
There is no occasion to present all the statistics of school prog-
ress in this State from the first to the present time, but some
interest will be taken in the latest statistics, which we take from the
9th Biennial Report (for]877-'8) by the State Superintendent of
Public Instruction, Hon. James H. Smart. This report, by the
way, is a volume of 480 octavo pages, and is free to all who desire
a copy.
The rapid, substantial and permanent increase which Indiana
enjoys in her school interests is thus set forth in the above report.
Length
Total
of School
No of
Attendance
School
Am't Paid
Tear.
in Days.
Teacbere.
at School.
Enumeration.
Teachers.
1855
61
4,016
206,994
445,791
$ 239,924
1860
65
7,649
303,744
495,019
481,020
1865
66
9,493
402,812
557,092
1,020.440
1870
97
11.826
462,527
619.627
1,810,866
1875
130
18,13S!
502,362
667,736
2.s:J0,747
1878
129
13,076
512,535
699,153
3,065,968
BISTORT OF INDIANA. OJ9
The increase of school population during the past ten years has
been as follows:
Total in 1868, 592,865.
Increase for year ending Increase for year ending
Sept. 1,186!) 17,699 May 1, 1874 13,922
" 1,1870 9,063 " 1,1875 13,372
" 1,1871 3,101 " 1,1876 11,494
" 1,1872 8,811 " 1,1877 15,476
May 1, 1873 (8 months) 8,903 " 1,1878 4,447
Total, 1878 699,153
No. of white males 354,271 ; females 333,033 687,304
" "colored" 5,937; " 5,912 11,849
699,153
Twenty-nine per cent, of the above are in the 49 cities and 212
incorporated towns, and 71 per cent, in the 1,011 townships.
The number of white males enrolled in the schools in 1878 was
267,315, and of white females, 237,739; total, 505,054; of colored
males, 3,794; females, 3,687; total, 7,481; grand total, 512,535.
The average number enrolled in eacli district varies from 51 to 56,
and the average daily attendance from 32 to 35; but many children
reported as absent attend parochial or private schools. Seventy-
three per cent, of the white children and 63 per cent, of the colored,
in the State, are enrolled in the schools.
The number of days taught vary materially in the different town-
ships, and on this point State Superintendent Smart iterates: "As
long as the schools of some of our townships are kept open but 60
days and others 220 days, we do not have a uniform system, — such
as was contemplated by the constitution. The school law requires
the trustee of a township to maintain each of the schools in his
corporation an equal length of time. This provision cannot be so
easily applied to the various counties of the State, for the reason
that there is a variation in the density of the population, in the
wealth of the people, and the amount of the township funds. I
think, however, there is scarcely a township trustee in the State
who cannot, under the present law, if he chooses to do so, bring his
schools up to an average of six months. I think it would be wise
to require each township trustee to levy a sufficient local tax to
maintain the schools at least six months of the year, provided this
can be done without increasing the local tax beyond the amount
now permitted by law. This would tend to bring the poorer schools
up to the standard of the best, and would thus unify the system,
and make it indeed a common-school system."
220 HISTORY OF INDIANA.
The State, however, averages six and a half months school per
year to each district.
The number of school districts in the State in 1878 was 9,3S0, in
all but 31 of which school was taught during that year. There are
396 district and 151 township graded schools. Number of white
male teachers, 7,977, and of female, 5,699; colored, male, 62, and
female, 43; grand total, 13,781. For the ten years ending with
1878 there was an increase of -109 male teachers and 811 female
teachers. All these teachers, except about 200, attend normal
institutes, — a showing which probably surpasses that of any other
State in this respect.
The average daily compensation of teachers throughout the
State in 1878 was as follows: In townships, males, $1.90; females,
$1.70; in towns, males, $3.09; females, $1.81; in cities, males,
$4.06; females, $2.29.
In 1S78 there were 89 stone school-houses, 1,724 brick, 7,608
frame, and 124 log; total, 9,545, valued at $11,536,647.39.
And lastly, and best of all, we are happy to state that Indiana has
a larger school fund than any other State in the Union. In 1S72,
according to the statistics before us, it was larger than that of any
other State by $2,000,000! the figures being as follows:
Indiana §8,437,593.47 Michigan $2,500,214.91
Ohio 6,614,816.50 Missouri 3,525,352.52
Illinois 6,348,538.32 Minnesota 2,471,199.31
New York 2,880,017.01 Wisconsin 2,237,414.37
Connecticut 2,809.770.70 Massachusetts 2,210,864.09
Iowa 4,274,581.93 Arkansas 2.000,000.00
Nearly all the rest of the States have less than a million dollars
in their school fund.
In 1S72 the common-school fund of Indiana consisted of the
following:
Non-negotiable bonds $3,591,316.15 Escheated estates 17.866.55
Common-school fund, 1,666,834.50 Sinking fund, last distrib-
Sinking fund, at 8 percent 569,139.94 ution 67,068.72
Congressional township Sinking fund undistrib-
fund 2,281,076.69 uted 100,165.92
Value of unsold Congres- Swamp land fund 42,418.40
sional township lands.. 94,245.00
Saline fund 5,727.66 $8,437,593 47
Bank tax fund 1,744.94
In 1878 the grand total was $8,974,455.55.
The origin of the respective school funds of Indiana is as follows:
1. The " Congressional township " fund is derived from the
proceeds of the 16th sections of the townships. Almost all of these
HISTORY OF INDIANA. 221
have been sold and the money put out at interest. The amount of
this fund in 1S77 was $2,452,936.S2.
2. The "saline" fund consists of the proceeds of the sale of
salt springs, and the land adjoining necessary for working them to
the amount of 36 entire sections, authorized by the original act of
Congress. By authority of the same act the Legislature has made
these proceeds a part of the permanent school fund.
3. The " surplus revenue " fund. Under the administration of
President Jackson, the national debt, contracted by the Revolutionary
war and the purchase of Louisiana, was entirely discharged, and a
large surplus remained in the treasury. In June, 1836, Congress
distributed this money amcng the States in the ratio of their repre-
sentation in Congress, subject to recall, and Indiana's share was
$S60,25L The Legislature subsequently set apart $573,502.96 of
this amount to be a part of the school fund. It is not probable that
the general Government will ever recall this money.
4. " Bank tax " fund. The Legislature of 1S34 chartered a State
Bank, of which a part of the stock was owned by the State and a
part by individuals. Section 15 of the charter required an annual
deduction from the dividends, equal to 12£ cents on each share not
held by the State, to be set apart for common-school education.
This tax finally amounted to $S0,000, which now bears interest in
favor of education.
5. " Sinking " fund. In order to set the State bank under
good headway, the State at first borrowed $1,300,000, and out of
the unapplied balances a fund was created, increased by unapplied
balances also of the principal, interest and dividends of the amount
lent to the individual holders of stock, for the purpose of sinking
the debt of the bank; hence the name sinking fund. The 114th
section of the charter provided that after the full payment of the
bank's indebtedness, principal, interest and incidental expenses, the
residue of said fund should be a permanent fund, appropriated to
the cause of education. As the charter extended through a period
of 25 years, this fund ultimately reached the handsome amount of
$5,000,000.
The foregoing are all interest-bearing funds; the following are
additional school funds, but not productive:
6. " Seminary " fund. By order of the Legislature in 1852, all
county seminaries were sold, and the net proceeds placed in the
common-school fund.
222 HISTORY OF IXDIA>~A.
7. All fines for the violation of the penal laws of the State are
placed to the credit of the common-school fund
8. All recognizances of witnesses and parties indicted for crime,
when forfeited, are collectible by law and made a part of the
school fund. These are reported to the office of the State Superin-
tendent of Public Instruction annually. For the'five years ending
with 1872, they averaged about §34,000 a year.
9. Escheats. These amount to $17,S65.55, which was still in
the State treasury in 1S72 and unapplied.
10. The "swamp-land" fund arises from the sale of certain
Congressional land grants, not devoted to any particular purpose
by the terms of the grant. In 1872 there was §42,418.40 of this
money, subject to call by the school interests.
11. Taxes on corporations are to some extent devoted by the
Constitution to school purposes, but the clause on this subject is
somewhat obscure, and no funds as yet have been realized from this
source. It is supposed that several large sums of money are due
the common-school fund from the corporations.
Constitutionally, any of the above funds may be increased, but
never diminished.
INDIANA STATE UNIVERSITY.
So early as 1S02 the U. S. Congress granted lands and a charter
to the people of that portion of the Northwestern Territory resid-
ing at Vincennes, for the erection and maintenance of a seminary
of learning in that early settled district; and five years afterward
an act incorporating the Vincennes University asked the Legisla-
ture to appoint a Board of Trustees for the institution and order the
sale of a single township in Gibson county, granted by Congress in
1S02, so that the proceeds might be at once devoted to the objects
of education. On this Board the following gentlemen were ap-
pointed to act in the interests of the institution: William H. Har-
rison, John Gibson, Thomas H. Davis, Henry Vanderburgh, "Wal-
ler Taylor, Benjamin Parke, Peter Jones, James Johnson, John
Rice Jones, George "Wallace, "William Bullitt, Ehas McNamee,
John Badolett, Henry Hurst, Gen. W. Johnston, Francis Vigo,
Jacob Kuykendall, Samuel McKee. Nathaniel Ewing, George
Leech, Luke Decker, Samuel Gwathraey and John Johnson.
The sale of this land was slow and the proceeds small. The
members of the Board, too, were apathetic, and failing to meet, the
institution fell out of existence and out of memory.
HISTORY OF INDIANA. 223
In 1S16 Congress granted another township in Monroe county,
located within its present limits, and the foundation of a university
was laid. Four years later, and after Indiana was erected into a
State, an act of the local Legislature appointing another Board of
Trustees and authorizing them to select a location for a university
and to enter into contracts for its construction, was passed. The
new Board met at Bloomington and selected a site at that place for
the location of the present building, entered into a contract for the
erection of the same in 1S22, and in 1S25 had the satisfaction of being
present at the inauguration of the university. The first session was
commenced under the Rev. Baynard R. Hall, with 20 students, and
when the learned professor could only boast of a salary of $150 a
year; yet, on this very limited sum the gentleman worked with
energy and soon brought the enterprise through all its elementary
stages to the position of an academic institution. Dividing the
year into two sessions of five months each, the Board acting under
his advice, changed the name to the " Indiana Academy," under
which title it was duly chartered. In 1S27 Prof. John H. Harney
was raised to the chairs of mathematics, natural philosophy and
astronomy, at a salary of $300 a year; and the salary of Mr. Hall
raised to $400 a year. In 1S28 the name was again changed by the
Legislature to the " Indiana College," and the following professors
appointed over the different departments: Rev. Andrew Wylie,
D. D., Prof, of mental and moral philosophy and belles lettres;
John H. Harne}', Prof, of mathematics and natural philosophy; and
Rev. Bayard R. Hall, Prof, of ancient languages. This year, also,
dispositions were made for the sale of Gibson county lands and foj*
the erection of a new college building. This action was opposed
by some legal difficulties, which after a time were overcome, and
the new college building was put under construction, and continued
to prosper until 1S54, when it was destroyed by fire, and 9,000
volumes, with all the apparatus, were consumed The curriculum
was then carried out in a temporary building, while a new struct-
ure was going up.
In 1S73 the new college, with its additions, was completed, and
the routine of studies continued. A museum of natural history,
a laboratory and the Owen cabinet added, and the standard of the
studies and morale generally increased in excellence and in strict-
ness.
Bloomington is a fine, healthful locality, on the Louisville, New
Albany & Chicago railway. The University buildings are in the
224 HISTORY OF INDIANA.
collegiate Gothic style, simply and truly carried out. The building,
fronting College avenue is 145 feet in front. It consists of a
central building 60 feet by 53, with wings each 3S feet by 26, and
the whole, three stories high. The new building, fronting the
west, is 130 feet by 50. Buildings lighted by gas.
The faculty numbers thirteen. Number of students in the col-
legiate department in 1879-'80, 1S3; in preparatory, 169; total,
340, allowing for three counted twice.
The university may now be considered on a fixed fouuaation, car-
rying out the intention of the President, who aimed at scholarship
rather than numbers, and demands the attention of eleven pro-
fessors, together with the State Geologist, who is ex-officio member
of the faculty, and required to lecture at intervals and look after
the geological and mineralogical interests of the institution. The
faculty of medicine is represented by eleven leading physicians
of the neighborhood. The faculty of law requires two resident
professors, and the other chairs remarkably well represented.
The university received from the State annually about $15,000,
and promises with the aid of other public grants and private dona-
tions to vie with any other State university within the Republic.
PURDUE UNIVERSITY.
This is a " college for the benefit of agricultural and the mechanic
arts," as provided for by act of Congress, July 2, 1862, donating
lands for this purpose to the extent of 30,000 acres of the public
domain to each Senator and Representative in the Federal assem-
bly. Indiana having in Congress at that time thirteen members,
became entitled to 390,000 acres; but as there was no Congress
land in the State at this time, scrip had to be taken, and it was
upon the following condition (we quote the act):
" Section 4. That all moneys derived from the sale of land
scrip shall be invested in the stocks of the United States, or of
some other safe stocks, yielding no less than five per centum upon
the par value of said stocks; and that the moneys so invested shall
constitute a perpetual fund, the capital of which shall remain undi-
minished, except so far as may be provided in section 5 of this act,
and the interest of which shall be inviolably appropriated by each
State, which may take and claim the benefit of this act, to the
endowment, support and maintenance of at least one college, where
the leading 1 object shall be, without excluding other scientific and
HISTOET OF INDIANA. 225
classical studies, and including military tactics, to teach such
branches of learning rs are related to agriculture and the mechanic
arts, in such a manner as the Legislatures of the States may re-
spectively prescribe, in order to promote the liberal and practical
education of the industrial classes in the several pursuits and pro-
fessions of life.
" Sec. 5. That the grant of land and land scrip hereby author-
ized shall be made on the following conditions, to which, as well as
the provision hereinbefore contained, the previous assent of the
several States shall be signified by Legislative act:
" First. If any portion of the funds invested as provided by the
foregoing section, or any portion of the interest thereon, shall by
any action or contingency be diminished or lost, it shall be replaced
~by the State to which it belongs, so that the capital of the fund
shall remain forever undiminished, and the annual interest shall be
regularly applied, without diminution, to the purposes mentioned
in the fourth section of this act, except that a sum not exceeding ten
per centum upon the amount received by any State under the pro-
visions of this act may be expended for the purchase of lands for
sites or experimental farms, whenever authorized by the respective
Legislatures of said States.
" Second. No portion of said fund, nor interest thereon, shall
be applied, directly or indirectly, under any pretence whatever, to
the purchase, erection, preservation or repair of any building or
buildings.
" Third. Any State which may take and claim the benefit of
the provisions of this act, shall provide, within five years at least,
not less than one college, as provided in the fourth section of this
act, or the grant to such State shall cease and said State be bound
to pay the United States the amount received of any lands pre-
viously sold,, and that the title to purchase under the States shall
be valid.
"Fourth. An annual report shall be made regarding the prog-
ress of each college, recording any improvements and experiments
made, with their cost and result, and such other matter, including
State industrial and economical statistics, as may be supposed use-
ful, one copy of which shall be transmitted by mail free, by each,
to all other colleges which may be endowed under the provisions
of this act, and also one copy to the Secretary of the Interior.
"Fifth. When lands snail be selected from those which have
been raised to double the minimum price in consequence of railroad
226 HISTORY OF INDIANA.
grants, that they shall be computed to the States at the maximum
price, and the number of acres proportionately diminished.
'•'Sixth. No State, while in a condition of rebellion or insur-
rection against the Government of the United States, shall be
entitled to the benefits of this act.
"Seventh. No State shall be entitled to the benefits of this act
unless it sball express its acceptance thereof by its Legislature
within two years from the date of its approval by the President."
The foregoing act was approved by the President, July 2, 1S62.
It seemed that this law, amid the din of arms with the great Rebel-
lion, was about to pass altogether unnoticed by the next General
Assembly, January, 1863, had not Gov. Morton's attention been
called to it by a delegation of citizens from Tippecanoe county, who
visited him in the interest of Battle Ground. He thereupon sent
a special message to the Legislature, upon the subject, and then
public attention was excited to it everywhere, and several localities
competed for the institution; indeed, the rivalry was so great that
this session failed to act in the matter at all, and would have failed
to accept of the grant within the two years prescribed in the last
clause quoted above, had not Congress, by a supplementary act,
extended the time two years longer.
March 6, 1865, the Legislature accepted the conditions ot the
national gift, and organized the Board of " Trustees of the Indiana
Agricultural College." This Board, by authority, sold the scrip
April 9, 1867, for $212,23S.50, w hich sum, by compounding, has
increased to nearly $400,000, aud is invested in IT. S. bonds. Not
until the special session of May, 1869, was the localit}' for this col-
lege selected, when John Purdue, of Lafayette, offered $150,000
and Tippecanoe county $50,000 more, and the title of the institution
changed to "Purdue University." Donations were also made by
the Battle Ground Institute and the Battle Ground Institute of the
Methodist Episcopal Church.
The building was located on a 100-acre tract near Chauncey,
which Purdue gave in addition to his magnificent donation, and to
which 86$ acres more have since been added on the north. The
boarding-house, dormitory, the laboratory, boiler and gas house,
a frame armory and gymnasium, stable with shed and work-shop
are all to the north of the gravel road, and form a group of build-
ings within a circle cf 600 feet. The boiler and gas house occupy
a rather central position, and supply steam and gas to the boarding-
bouse, dormitory and laboratory. A description of these buildings
HISTOET OF INDIANA. 227
may be apropos. The boarding-house is a brick structure, in the
modern Italian style, planked by a turret at each of the trout angles
and measuring 120 leet front by 6S feet deep. The dormitory is a
quadrangular edifice, in the plain Elizabethan style, four stories
high, arranged to accommodate 125 students. Like the other build-
ings, it is heated by steam and lighted by gas. Bathing accommo-
dations are in each end of all the stories. The laboratory is almost
a duplicate of a similar department in Brown University, R. I. It
is a much smaller building than the boarding-house, but yet suffi-
ciently large to meet the requirements. A collection of minerals,
fossils and antiquities, purchased from Mr. Richard Owen, former
President of the institution, occupies the temporary cabinet or
museum, pending the construction of anew building. The military
hall and gymnasium is 100 feet frontage by 50 feet deep, and only
one story high. The uses to which this hall is devoted are exer-
cises in physical and military drill. The boiler and gas house is an
establishment replete in itself, possessing every facility for supply-
ing the buildings of the university with adequate heat and light.
It is further provided with pumping works. Convenient to this
department is the retort and great meters of the gas house, capable
of holding 9,000 cubic feet of gas, and arranged upon the principles
of modern science. The barn and shed form a single building,
both useful, convenient and ornamental.
In connection with the agricultural department of the university,
a brick residence and barn were erected and placed at the disposa 1
of the farm superintendent, Maj. L. A. Burke.
The buildings enumerated above have been erected at a cost
approximating the following: boarding-house, $37,807.07; labora-
tory, $15,000; dormitory, $32,000; military hall and gymnasium,
$6,410.47; boiler and gas house, $4,314; barn and shed, $1,500;
work-shop, $1,000; dwelling and barn, $2,500.
Besides the original donations, Legislative appropriations, vary-
ing in amount, have been made from time to time, and Mr. Fierce,
the treasurer, has donated his official salary, $600 a year, for the time
he served, for decorating the grounds, — if necessary.
The opening of the university was, owing to varied circumstan-
ces, postponed from time to time, and not until March, 1S74, was a
class formed, and this only to comply with the act of Congress in
that connection in its relation to the university. However, in
September following a curriculum was adopted, and the first regu-
lar term of the Purdue University entered upon. This curriculum
228 HISTORY OF INDIANA.
comprises the varied subjects generally pertaining to a first-class
university course, namely: in the school of natural science-
physics and industrial mechanics, chemistry and natural history;
in the school of engineering — civil and mining, together with the
principles of architecture; in the school of agriculture — theoret-
ical and practical agriculture, horticulture and veterinary science;
in the military school — the mathematical sciences, German and
French literature, free-hand and mechanical drawing, with all the
studies pertaining to the natural and military sciences. Modern
languages and natural history embrace their respective courses to
the fullest extent.
There are this year (1880) eleven members of the faculty, S6
students in the regular courses, and 117 other students. In respect
to attendance there has been a constant increase from the first.
The first year, 1874:-'5, there were but 64 students.
INDIANA STATE NORMAL SCHOOL.
This institution was founded at Terre Haute in 1S70, in accord-
ance with the act of the Legislature of that year. The building is
a large brick edifice situated upon a commanding location and
possessing some architectural beauties. From its inauguration
many obstacles opposed its advance toward efficiency and success;
but the Board of Trustees, composed of men experienced in edu-
cational matters, exercised their strength of mind and body to
overcome every difficulty, and secure for the State Normal School
every distinction and emolument that lay within their power,
their efforts to this end being very successful; and it is a fact that
the institution has arrived at, if not eclipsed, the standard of their
expectations. Not alone does the course of study embrace the
legal subjects known as reading, writing, spelling, arithmetic,
geography, TJuited States history, English grammar, physiology,
manners and ethics, but it includes also universal history, the
mathematical sciences and many other subjects foreign to older
institutions. The first studies are prescribed by law and must be
inculcated; the second are optional with the professors, and in the
case of Indiana generally hold place in the curriculum of the nor-
mal school.
Tlie model, or training school, specially designed for the training
of teachers, forms a most important factor in State educational
matters, and prepares teachers of both sexes for one of the most
important positions in life; viz., that of educating the youth of the
HISTORY OF INDIANA. 229
State. The advanced course of studies, together with the higher
studies of the normal school, embraces Latin and German, and pre-
pares young men and women for entrance to the State University.
The efficiency of this school may be elicited from the following
facts, taken from the official reports: out of 41 persons who had
graduated from the elementary course, nine, after teaching success-
fully iu the public schools of this State from two terms to two
vears, returned to the institution and sought admission to the
advanced classes. They were admitted; three of them were gentle-
men and six ladies. After spending two years and two terms in the
elementary course, and then teaching in the schools during the
time already mentioned they returned to spend two and a half or
three years more, and for the avowed purpose of qualifying them-
selves for teaching in the most responsible positions of the public
school service. In fact, no student is admitted to the school who
does not in good faith declare his intention to qualify himself for_
teaching in the schools of the State. This the law requires, and
the rule is adhered to literally.
The report further says, in speaking of the government of the
school, that the fundamental idea is rational freedom, or that free-
dom which gives exemption from the power of control of one over
another, or, in other words, the self-limiting of themselves, in their
acts, hy a recognition of the rights of others who are equally free.
The idea and origin of the school being laid down, and also the
means by which scholarship can be realized in the individual, the
student is left to form his own conduct, both during session hours
and while away from school. The teacher merely stands between
this scholastic idea and the student's own partial conception of it,
as expositor or interpreter. The teacher is not legislator, executor
or police officer; he is expounder of the true idea of school law, so
that the only test of the student's conduct is obedience to, or
nonconformity with, that law as interpreted by the teacher. This
idea once inculcated in the minds of the students, insures industry,
punctuality and order.
NORTHERN INDIANA NORMAL SCHOOL AND BUSINESS INSTITUTE,
VALPARAISO.
This institution was organized Sept. 16, 1S73, with 35 students
in attendance. The school occupied the building known as the
Valparaiso Male and Female College building. Four teachers
230 HISTORY OF INDIANA.
were employed. The attendance, so small at first, increased rap-
idly and steadily, until at the present writing, the seventh year
in the history of the school, the yearly enrollment is more than
three thousand. The number of instructors now employed is 23.
From time to time, additions have been made to the school
buildings, and numerous boarding halls have been erected, so that
now the value of the buildings and grounds owned by the school
is one hundred thousand dollars.
A large library has been collected, and a complete equipment of
philosophical and chemical apparatus has been purchased. The
department of physiology is supplied with skeletons, manikins,
and everything necessary to the demonstration of each branch of
the subject. A large cabinet is provided for the study of geology.
In fact, each department of the school is completely furnished
with the apparatus needed for the most approved presentation of
every subject.
There are 15 chartered departments in the institution. These
are in charge of thorough, energetic, and scholarly instructors, and
send forth each year as graduates, a large number of finely cultured
young ladies and gentlemen, living testimonials of the efficiency
of the course of study and the methods used.
The Commercial College in connection with the school is in itself
a great institution. It is finely fitted up and furnished, and ranks
forejnost among the business colleges of the United States.
The expenses for tuition, room and board, have been made so
low that an opportunity for obtaining a thorough education is
presented to the poor and the rich alike.
All of this work has been accomplished in the short space of
seven years. The school now holds a high place among educational
institutions, and is the largest normal school in the United States.
This wonderful growth and devolopment is wholly due to the
energy and faithfulness of its teachers, and the unparalleled exec-
utive ability of its proprietor and principal. The school is not
endowed.
DENOMINATIONAL AND PRIVATE INSTITUTIONS.
Nor is Indiana behind in literary institutions under denomina-
tional auspices. It is not to be understood, however, at the present
day, that sectarian doctrines are insisted upon at the so-called
" denominational" colleges, universities and seminaries; the youth at
these places are influenced only by Christian example.
HISTORY OF INDIANA. 231
Notre Dame University, near South Bend, is a Catholic institu-
tion, and is one of the most noted in the United States. It was
founded in 1812 by Father Sorin. The first building was erected
in 1S43, and the university has continued to grow and prosper until
the present time, now having 35 professors, 26 instructors, 9 tutors,
213 students and 12,000 volumes in library. At present the main
building has a frontage of 221 feet and a depth of 155. Thousands
of young people have received their education here, and a large
number have been graduated for the priesthood. A chapter was
held here in 1872, attended by delegates from all parts of the world.
It is worthy of mention that this institution has a bell weighing
13,000 pounds, the largest in the United States and one of the finest
in the world.
The Indiana Asbury University, at Greencastle, is an old and
well-established institution under the auspices of the Methodist
Episcopal Church, named after its first bishop, Asbury. It was
founded in 1S35, and in 1872 it had nine professors and 172
students.
Howard College, not denominational, is located at Kokomo, and
was founded in 1869. In 1872 it had five professors, four instructors,
and 69 students.
Union Christian College, Christian, at Merom, was organized in
1S58, and in 1S72 had four resident professors, seven instructors
and 156 students.
Moore's Hill College, Methodist Episcopal, is situated at Moore's
Hill, was founded in 1851, and in 1872 had five resident professors,
five instructors, and 112 students.
Earlhain's College, at Richmond, is under the management of
the Orthodox Friends, and was founded in 1859. In 1872 the}'
had six resident professors and 167 students, and 3,300 volumes in
library.
Wabash College, at Crawfordsville, was organized in 1834, and
had in 1872, eight professors and teachers, and 231 students, with
about 12,000 volumes in the library. It is under Presbyterian
management.
Concordia College, Lutheran, at Fort Wayne, was founded in
1850; in 1S72 it had four professors and 118 students: 3,000 volumes
in library.
Hanover College, Presbyterian, was organized in 1833, at Han-
over, and in 1872 had seven professors and 118 students, and 7,000
volumes in library.
232 HISTORY OF INDIANA.
Hartsville University, United Brethren, at Hartsville, was
founded in 1854, and in 1S72 had seven professors and 117 students.
Northwestern Christian University, Disciples, is located at
Irvington, near Indianapolis. It was founded in 1854, and by
1S72 it had 15 resident professors, 181 students, and 5,000 volumes
in library.
BENEVOLENT AND PENAL INSTITUTIONS.
By the year 1S30, the influx of paupers and invalid persons was
so great that the Governor called upon the Legislature to take
steps toward regulating the matter, and also to provide an asylum
for the poor, but that body was very slow to act on the matter.
At the present time, however, there is no State in the Union which
can boast a better system of benevolent institutions. The Benevo-
lent Society of Indianapolis was organized in 1S43. It was a
pioneer institution; its field of work was small at first, but it has
grown into great usefulness.
INSTITUTE FOE THE EDUCATION OF THE BLIND.
In behalf of the blind, the first effort was made by James M. Ray,
about 1846. Through his efforts William H. Churchman came
from Kentucky with blind pupils and gave exhibitions in Mr.
Beecher's church, in Indianapolis. These entertainments were
attended by members of the Legislature, for whom indeed they
were especially intended; and the effect upon them was so good,
that before they adjourned the session they adopted measnres to es-
tablish an asylum for the blind. The commission appointed to carry
out these measures, consisting of James M. Ray, Geo. W. Mears,
and the Secretary, Treasurer and Auditor of State, engaged Mr.
Churchman to make a lecturing tour through the State and collect
statistics of the blind population.
The " Institute for the Education of the Blind " was founded by
the Legislature of 1847, and first opened in a rented building Oct.
1, of that year. The permanent buildings were opened and occu-
pied in February, 1853. The original cost of the buildings and
ground was $110,000, aud the present valuation of buildings and
grounds approximates $300,000. The main building is 90 feet
long by 61 deep, and with its right and left wings, each 30 feet in
front and 83 in depth, give an entire frontage of 150 feet. The
main building is five stories in height, surmounted by a cupola of
HISTORY OF INDIANA. 235
the Corinthian style, while each wing is similarly overcapped
The porticoes, cornices and verandahs are gotten up with exquisite
taste, and the former are molded after the principle of Ionic archi-
tecture. The building is very favorably situated, and occupies a
space of eight acres.
The nucleus of a fund for supplying indigent graduates of the
institution with an outfit suitable to their trades, or with money in
lieu thereof, promises to meet with many additions. The fund is
the out-come of the benevolence of Mrs. Fitzpatrick, a resident of
Delaware, in this State, and appears to be suggested by the fact
that her daughter, who was smitten with blindness, studied as a
pupil in the institute, and became singularly attached to many of
its inmates. The following passage from the lady's will bears
testimony not only to her own sympathetic nature but also to the
efficiency of the establishment which so won her esteem. " I give
to each of the following persons, friends and associates of my blind
daughter, Margaret Louisa, the sum of $100 to each, to wit, viz:
Melissa and Phoebe Garrettson, Frances Cundiff, Dallas Newland,
Naomi Unthunk, and a girl whose name before marriage was
Rachel Martin, her husband's name not recollected. The balance
of my estate, after paying the expenses of administering, I give to
the superintendent of the blind asylum and his successor, in trust,
for the use and benefit of the indigent blind of Indiana who may
attend the Indiana blind asylum, to be given to them on leaving
in such sums as the superintendent may deem proper, but not more
than $50 to any one person. I direct that the amount above direct-
ed be loaned at interest, and the interest and principal be distributed
as above, agreeably to the best judgment of the superintendent,
so as to do the greatest good to the greatest number of blind
persons."
The following rules, regulating the institution, after laying down
in preamble that the institute is strictly an educational estab-
lishment, having its main object the moral, intellectual and phys-
ical training of the young blind of the State, and is not an asylum
for the aged and helpless, nor an hospital wherein the diseases of
the eye may be treated, proceed as follows:
1. The school year commences the first Wednesday after the
15th day of September, and closes on the last Wednesday in June,
showing a session of 40 weeks, and a vacation term of 84 days.
2. Applicants for admission must be from 9 to 21 years of age;
but the trustees have power to admit blind students under 9 or
236 iiistoky of Indiana.
over 21 years of age; but this power is extended only in very
extreme cases.
3. Imbecile or unsound persons, or confirmed immoralists,
cannot be admitted knowingly; neither can admitted pupils who
prove disobedient or incompetent to receive instruction be retained
on the roll.
4. JSfo charge is made for the instruction and board given to
pupils from the State of Indiana; and even those without the State
have only to pay $200 for board and education during the 40 weeks'
session.
5. An abundant and good supply of comfortable clothing for
both summer and winter wear, is an indispensable adjunct of the
pupil.
6. The owner's name must be distinctly marked on each article
of clothing.
7. In cases of extreme indigence the institution may provide
clothing and defray the traveling expenses of such pupil and levy the
amount so expended on the county wherein his or her home is
situated.
8. The pupil, or friends of the pupil, must remove him or her
from the institute during the annual vacation, and in case of their
failure to do so, a legal provision enables the superintendent to
forward such pupil to the trustee of the township where he or she
resides, and the expense of such transit and board to be charged to
the county.
9. Friends of the pupils accompanying them to the institution,
or visiting them thereat, cannot enter as boarders or lodgers.
10. Letters to the pupils should be addressed to the care of the
Superintendent of the Institute for the Education of the Blind, so as
the better to insure delivery.
11. Persons desirous of admission of pupils should apply to the
superintendent for a printed copy of instructions, and no pupil
should be sent thereto until the instructions have been complied
with.
INSTITUTE FOE THE DEAF AND DUMB.
In 1S43 the Governor was also instructed to obtain plans and
information respecting the care of mutes, and the Legislature also
levied a tax to provide for them. The first one to agitate the subject
was "William Willard, himself a mute, who visited Indiana in 1843,
and opened a school for mutes on his own account, with 16 pupils.
HISTORY OF INDIANA. 237
The next year the Legislature adopted this school as a State insti-
tution, appointing a Board of Trustees for its management, consist-
ing of the Governor and Secretary of State, ex-offlcio,and Revs. Henry
"Ward Beecher, Phineas D. Gnrley, L. II. Jameson, Dr. Dunlap,
Hon. James Morrison and Rev. Matthew Simpson. They rented the
large building on the southeast corner of Illinois and Maryland
streets, and opened the first State asylum there in 1844; but in 1846,
a site for a permanent building just eastof Indianapolis was selected,
consisting first of 30 acres, to which 100 more have been added.
On this site the two first structures were commenced in 1849, and
completed in the fall of 1850, at a cost of $30,000. The school
was immediately transferred to the new building, where it is still
flourishing, with enlarged buildings and ample facilities for instruc-
tion in agriculture. In 1869-'70, another building was erected,
and the three together now constitute one of the most benefi-
cent and beautiful institutions to be found on this continent, at
an aajorresrate cost of $220,000. The main building has a facade of
260 feet. Here are the offices, study rooms, the quarters of officers
and teachers, the pupils' dormitories and the library. The center
of this building has a frontage of eighty feet, and is five stories high,
with wings on either side 60 feet in frontage. In this Central
structure are the store rooms, dining-hall, servants' rooms, hospital,
laundry, kitchen, bakery and several school-rooms. Another struct-
ure known as the " rear building " contains the chapel and another
set of school-rooms. It is two stories high, the center being 50 feet
square and the wings 40 by 20 feet. In addition to these there are
many detached buildings, containing the shops of the industrial
department, the engine-house and wash-house.
The grounds comprise 105 acres, which in the immediate vicinity
of the buildings partake of the character of ornamental or pleasure
gardens, comprising a space devoted to fruits, flowers and veget-
ables, while the greater part is devoted to pasture and agriculture.
The first instructor in the institution was Wm. Willard, a deaf
mute, who had up to 1844 conducted a small school for the instruc-
tion of the deaf at Indianapolis, and now is employed by the State,
at a salary of $800 per annum, to follow a similar vocation in its
service. In 1853 he was succeeded by J. S. Brown, and subse-
quently by Thomas Mclutire, who continues principal of the
institution.
238 HISTORY OF INDIANA".
HOSPITAL FOB THE INSANE.
The Legislature of 1832-'3 adopted measures providing for a
State hospital for the insane. This good work would have been
done much earlier had it not been for the hard times of 1837,
intensified by the results of the gigantic scheme of internal improve-
ment. In order to survey the situation and awaken public sympa-
thy, the county assessors were ordered to make a return of the
insane in their respective counties. During the year 1842 the
Governor, acting under the direction of the Legislature, procured
considerable information in regard to hospitals for the insane in
other States; and Dr. John Evans lectured before the Legislature
on the subject of insanity and its treatment. As a result of these
efforts the authorities determined to take active steps for the estab-
lishment of such a hospital. Plans and suggestions from the
superintendents and hospitals of other States were submitted to the
Legislature in 1S44, which body ordered the levy of a tax of one
cent on the 8100 for the purpose of establishing the hospital. In
1845 a commission was appointed to obtain a site not exceeding
200 acres. Mount Jackson, then the residence of Nathaniel Bolton,
was selected, and the Legislature in 1846 ordered the commissioners
to proceed with the erection of the building. Accordingly, in
1847, the central building was completed, at a cost of $75,000. It
has since been enlarged by the addition of wings, some of which
are larger than the old central building, until it has become an
immense structure, having cost over half a million dollars.
The wings of the main building are four stories high, and entirely
devoted to wards for patients, being capable of accommodating
500.
The grounds of the institution comprise 160 acres, and, like
those of the institute for the deaf and dumb, are beautifully laid
out.
This hospital was opened for the reception of patients in 1848.
The principal structure comprises what is known as the central
building and the right and left wings, and like the institute for the
deaf and dumb, erected at various times and probably under various
adverse circumstances, it certainly does not hold the appearance of
any one design, but seems to be a combination of many. Not-
withstanding these little defects in arrangement, it presents a very
imposing appearance, and shows what may be termed a frontage
BISTORT OF INDIANA. 239
of 624 feet. The central building is live stories in height and con-
tains the store-rooms, offices, reception parlors, medical dispensing
rooms, mess-rooms and the apartments of the superintendent and
other officers, with those of the female employes. Immediately
iu the rear of the central building, and connected with it by a
corridor, is the chapel, a building 50 by 60 feet. This chapel
occupies the third floor, while the under stories hold the kitchen,
bakery, emplo3 T es' dining-room, steward's office, employes' apart-
ments and sewing rooms. In rear of this again is the engine-
house, 00 by 50 feet, containing ail the paraphernalia for such an
establishment, such as boilers, pumping works, fire plugs, hose,
and above, on the second floor, the laundry and apartments of male
employes.
THE STATE PEISON SOUTH.
The first penal institution of importance is known as the "State
Prison South," located at Jeffersonville, and was the only prison
until 1859. It was established in 1S21. Before that time it was
customary to resort to the old-time punishment of the whipping-
post. Later the manual labor system was inaugurated, and the
convicts were hired out to employers, among whom we»e Capt.
Westover, afterward killed at Alamo, Texas, with Crockett, James
Keigwin, who in an affray was fired at and severely wounded by a
convict named Williams, Messrs. Patterson Hensley, and Jos.
R. Pratt. During the rule of the latter of these lessees, the atten-
tion of the authorities was turned to a more practical method of
utilizing convict labor; and instead of the prisoners being per-
mitted to serve private entries, their work was turned in the direc-
tion of their own prison, where for the next few years they were
employed in erecting the new buildings now known as the " State
Prison South." This structure, the result of prison labor, stands
on 16 acres of ground, and comprises the cell houses and work-
shops, together with the prisoners' garden, or»pleasure-ground.
It seems that in the erection of these buildings the aim of the
overseers was to create so many petty dungeons and unventilated
laboratories, into which disease in every form would be apt to
creep. This fact was evident from the high mortality character-
izing life within the prison; and in the efforts made by the
Government to remedy a state of things which had been permitted
to exist far too long, the advance in prison reform has become a
reality. From 1857 to 1871 the labor of the prisoners was devoted
240 HISTORY OF INDIANA.
to the manufacture of wagons and farm implements; and again the
old policy of hiring the convicts was resorted to; for in the latter
year, 1S71, the Southwestern Car Company was organized, and
every prisoner capable of taking a part in the work of car-building
was leased out. This did very well until the panic of 1873, when
the company suffered irretrievable losses; and previous to its final
down-fall in 1S76 the warden withdrew convict labor a second time,
leaving the prisoners to enjoy a luxurious idleness around the
prison which themselves helped to raise.
In later years the State Prison South has gained some notoriety
from the desperate character of some of its inmates. During the
civil war a convict named Harding mutilated in a most horrible
manner and ultimately killed one of the jailors named Tesley. In
1874, two prisoners named Kennedy and Applegate, possessing
themselves of some arms, and joined by two other convicts named
Port and Stanley, made a break for freedom, swept past the guard,
Chamberlain, and gained the fields. Chamberlain went in pursuit
but had not gone very far when Kennedy turned on his pursuer,
fired and killed him instantly. Subsequently three of the prisoners
were captured alive and one of them paid the penalty of death,
while Kennedy, the murderer of Chamberlain, failing committal for
murder, was sent back to his old cell to spend the remainder of his
life. Pill Itodii'er, better known as "The Hoosier Jack Sheppard,"
effected his escape in 1875, in the very presence of a large guard,
but was recaptured and has since been kept in irons.
This establishment, owing to former mismanagement, has fallen
very much behind, financially, and has asked for and received an
appropriation of $20,000 to meet its expenses, while the contrary
is the case at the Michigan City prison.
THE STATE TKISON NORTH.
In 1859 the first steps toward the erection of a prison in the
northern part of the State were taken, and by an act of the Legis-
lature approved March 5, this year, authority was given to construct
prison buildings at some point north of the National road. For this
purpose §50,000 were appropriated, and a large number of convicts
from the Jeffersonville prison were transported northward to
Michigan City, which was just selected as the location for the new
penitentiary. The work was soon entered upon, and continued to
meet with additions and improvements down to a very recent
period. So late as 1875 the Legislature appropriated §20,000
HISTORY OF INDIANA. 241
toward the construction of new cells, and in other directions also
the work of improvement has been going on. The system of
government and discipline is similar to that enforced at the Jeffer-
sonville prison; and, strange to say, by its economical working has
not only met the expenses of the administration, but very recently
had amassed over $11,000 in excess of current expenses, from its
annual savings. This is due almost entirely to the continual
employment of the convicts in the manufacture of cigars and
chairs, and in their great prison industry, cooperage. It differs
widely from the Southern, insomuch as its sanitary condition has
been above the average of similar institutions. The strictness of its
silent system is better enforced. The petty revolutions of its
inmates have been very few and insignificant, and the number of
punishments inflicted comparatively small. From whatever point
this northern prison may be looked at, it will bear a very favorable
comparison with the largest and best administered of like establish-
ments throughout the world, and cannot fail to bring high credit to
its Board of Directors and its able warden.
FEMALE PRISON AND REFORMATORY.
The prison reform agitation which in this State attained telling
proportions in 1869, caused a Legislative measure to be brought
forward, which would have a tendency to ameliorate the condition
of female convicts. Gov. Baker recommended it to the General
Assembly, and the members of that body showed their appreciation
of the Governor's philanthropic desire by conferring upon the bill
the authority of a statute; and further, appropriated $50,000 to aid
in carrying out the objects of the act. The main provisions con-
tained in the bill may be set forth in the following extracts from
the proclamation of the Governor:
"Whenever said institution shall have been proclaimed to be
open for the reception of girls in the reformatory department
thereof, it shall be lawful for said Board of Managers to receive
them into their care and management, and the said reformatory
department, girls under the age of 15 years who may be committed
to their custody, in either of the following modes, to-wit:
"1. When committed by any judge of a Circuit or Common
Pleas Court, either in term time or in vacation, on complaint and
due proof by the parent or guardian that by reason of her incorrig-
ible or vicious conduct she has rendered her control beyond the
power of such parent or guardian, and made it manifestly requisite
242 HISTORY OF INDIANA.
that from regard to the future welfare of such infant, and for the
protection of society, she should be placed under such guardianship.
"2. "When such infant has been committed by such judge, as
aforesaid, upon complaint by any citizen, and due proof of such
complaint that such infant is a proper subject of the guardianship
of such institution in consequence of her vagrancy or incorrigible
or vicious conduct, and that from the moral depravity or other-
wise of her parent or guardian in whose custody she may be,
such parent or guardian is incapable or unwilling to exercise tbe
proper care or discipline over such incorrigible or vicious infant.
"3. When such infant has been committed by such judge as
aforesaid, on complaint and due proof thereof by the township
trustee of the township where such infant resides, that such infant
is destitute of a suitable home and of adequate means of obtaining
an honest living, or that she is in danger of being brought up to
lead an idle and immoral life."
In addition to these articles of the bill, a formal section of
instruction to the wardens of State prisons was embodied in the
act, causing such wardens to report the number of all the female
convicts under their charge and prepare to have them transferred
to the female reformatory immediately after it was declared to be
ready for their reception. After the passage of the act the
Governor appointed a Board of Managers, and these gentlemen,
securing the services of Isaac Hodgson, caused him to draft a plan
of the proposed institution, and further, on his recommendation,
asked the people for an appropriation of another $50,000, which
the Legislature granted in February. 1S73. The work of construc-
tion was then entered upon and carried out so steadily, that on the
6th of September, 1S73, the building was declared ready for the
reception of its future inmates. Gov. Baker lost no time in
proclaiming this fact, and October 4 he caused the wardens of the
State prisons to be instructed to transfer all the female convicts in
their custody to the new institution which may be said to rest on
the advanced intelligence of the age. It is now called the
" Indiana Reformatory Institution for Women and Girls."
This building is located immediately north of the deaf and
dumb asylum, near the arsenal, at Indianapolis. It is a three-
stor} r brick structure in the French style, and shows a frontage of
174 feet, comprising a main building, with lateral and transverse
wings. In front of the central portion is the residence of the
superintendent and his associate reformatory officers, while in the
HISTORY OF INDIANA. 243
rear is the engine house, with all the ways and means for heating
the buildings. Enlargements, additions and improvements are
still in progress. There is also a school and library in the main
building, which are sources of vast good.
October 31, 1S79, there were G6 convicts in the " penal" depart-
ment and 147 in the " girls' reformatory " department. The
" ticket-of-leave " system has been adopted, with entire satisfaction,
and the conduct of the institution appears to be up with the
times.
INDIANA HOUSE OF REFUGE.
In 1S67 the Legislature appropriated $50,000 to aid in the
formation of an institution to be entitled a house for the correction
and reformation of juvenile defenders, and vested with full powers
in a Board of Control, the members of which were to be appointed
by the Governor, and with the advice and consent of the Senate.
This Board assembled at the Governor's house at Indianapolis,
April 3, 1867, and elected Charles F. Coffin, as president, and
visited Chicago, so that a visit to the reform school there might
lead to a fuller knowledge and guide their future proceedings.
The House of Refuge at Cincinnati, and the Ohio State Reform
school were also visited with this design; and after full consider-
ation of the varied governments of these institutions, the Board
resolved to adopt the method known as the " family " system,
which divides the inmates into fraternal bodies, or small classes,
each class having a separate house, house father and family offices,
— all under the control of a general superintendent. The system
being adopted, the question of a suitable location next presented
itself, and proximity to a large city being considered rather
detrimental to the welfare of such an institution, Gov. Baker
selected the site three-fourths of a mile south of Plainfield, and
about fourteen miles from Indianapolis, which, in view of its
eligibility and convenience, was fully concurred in by the Board
of Control. Therefore, a farm of 225 acres, claiming a fertile soil
and a most picturesque situation, and possessing streams of running
water, was purchased, and on a plateau in its center a site for the
proposed house of refuge was fixed.
The next movement was to decide upon a plan, which ultimately
met the approval of the Governor. It favored the erection of one
principal building, one house for a reading-room and hospital, two
large mechanical shops and eight family houses. January 1, 1S6&
/ii HISTOKY OF INDIANA.
three family bouses and work-shop were completed; in 1S69 the
main building, and one additional family house were added; but
previous to this, in August, 1867, a Mr. Frank P. Ainsworth and
his wife were appointed by the Board, superintendent and matron
respectively, and temporary quarters placed at their disposal. In
1869 they of course removed to the new building. This is 64 by
12S feet, and three stories high. In its basement are kitchen,
laundry and vegetable cellar. The first floor is devoted to offices,
visitors' room, house father and family dining-room and store-
rooms. The general superintendent's private apartments, private
offices and five dormitories for officers occupy the second floor;
while the third floor is given up to the assistant superintendent's
apartment, library, chapel and hospital.
The family houses are similar in style, forming rectangular build-
ings 36 by 58 feet. The basement of each contains a furnace
room, a store-room and a large wash-room, which is converted into
a play-room during inclement weather. On the first floor of each
of these buildings are two rooms for the house father and his
family, and a school-room, which is also convertible into a sitting-
room for the boys. On the third floor is a family dormitory, a
clothes-room and a room for the " elder brother," who ranks next
to the house father. And since the reception of the first boy, from
Hendricks county, January 23, 1S68, the house plan has proved
equally convenient, even as the management has proved efficient.
Other buildings have since been erected.
HISTORY OF INDIANA. 245
THE LOG CABIN.
After arriving and selecting a suitable location, the next thing
to do was to build a log cabin, a description of which may be in-
teresting to many of our younger readers, as in some sections these
old-time structures are no more to be seen. Trees of uniform size
were chosen and cut into logs of the desired length, generally 12
to 15 feet, and hauled to the spot selected for the future dwelling.
On an appointed day the few neighbors who were available would
assemble and have a " house-raising." Each end of every log was
saddled and notched so that they would lie as close down as possi-
ble; the next day the proprietor would proceed to "chink and
daub " the cabin, to keep out the rain, wind and cold. The house
had to be re-daubed every fall, as the rains of the intervening time
would wash out a great part of the mortar. The usual height of
the house was seven or eight feet. The gables were formed by
shortening the logs gradually at each end of the building near the
top. The roof was made by laying very straight small logs or stout
poles suitable distances apart, generally about two and a half feet
from gable to gable, and on these poles were laid the "clapboards"
after the manner of shingling, showing about two and a half feet
to the weather. These clapboards were fastened to their place by
" weight-poles," corresponding in place with the joists just described,
and these again were held in their place by " runs " or " knees,"
which were chunks of wood about 18 or 20 inches long fitted be-
tween them near the ends. Clapboards were made from the nicest
oaks in the vicinity, by chopping or sawing them into four-foot
blocks and riving these with a frow, which was a simple blade fixed
at right angles to its handle. This was driven into the blocks of
wood by a mallet. As the frow was wrenched down through the
wood, the latter was turned alternately over from side to side, one
end being held by a forked piece of timber.
The chimney of the Western pioneer's cabin was made by leaving
in the original building a large open place in one wall, or by cut-
ting one after the structure was up, and by building on the out-
side, from the ground up, a stone column, or a column of sticks and
216 HISTORY OF IXDIAXA.
mud, the sticks being laid up cob-house fashion. The fire-place
thus made was often large enough to receive fire-wood six to eight
feet long. Sometimes this wood, especially the "back-log," would
be nearly as large as a saw-log. The more rapidly the pioneer
could burn up the wood in his vicinity the sooner he had his little
farm cleared and ready for cultivation. For a window, a piece
about two feet long was cut out of one of the wall logs, and the
hole closed sometimes by glass, but generally with greased paper.
Even greased deer-hide was sometimes used. A doorway was cut
through one of the walls, if a saw was to be had; otherwise the
door would be left by shortened logs in the original building. The
door was made by pinning clapboards to two or three wood bars,
and was hung upon wooden hinges. A wooden latch, with catch,
then finished the door, and the latch was raised by aDy one on the
outside by pulling a leather string. For security at night this
latch-string was drawn in; but for friends and neighbors, and even
strangers, the "latch-string was always hanging out," as a welcome.
In the interior, over the fire-place would be a shelf, called " the
mantel,"' on which stood the candlestick or lamp, some cooking and
table-ware, possibly an old clock, and other articles; in the fire-
place would be the crane, sometimes of iron, sometimes of wood —
on it the pots were hung for cooking; over the door, in forked cleats,
hung the ever trustful rifle and powder-horn; in one corner stood
the larger bed for the " old folks," and under it the trundle-bed for
the children; in another Btood the old-fashioned spinning-wheel,
with a smaller one by its side; in another the heavy table, the only
table, of course, there was in the house; in the remaining corner
was a rude cupboard holding the table-ware, which consisted of a few
cups and saucers and blue-edged plates, standing singly on their
edges against the back, to make the display of table furniture more
conspicuous; while around the room were scattered a few splint-
bottomed or Windsor chairs and two or three stools.
These simple cabins were inhabited by a kind and true-hearted
people. They were strangers to mock modesty, and the traveler,
seeking lodgings for the night, or desirous of spending a few days in
the community, if willing to accept the rude offering, was always
welcome, although how they were disposed of at night the reader
might not easily imagine; for, as described, a single room was made
HISTORY OF INDIANA. 247
to answer for kitchen, dining-room, sitting-room, bed-room and parlor,
and manj' families consisted of six or eight members.
SLEEPING ACCOMMODATIONS.
The Led was very often made by fixing a post in the floor about
six feet from one wall and four feet from the adjoining wall, and
fastening a stick to this post about two feet above the floor, on
each of two sides, so that the other end of each of the two sticks
could be fastened in the opposite wall; clapboards were laid across
these, and thus the bed was made complete. Guests were given this
bed, while the family disposed of themselves in another corner of
the room, or in the " loft." When several guests were on hand at
once, they were sometimes kept over night in the following man-
ner: when bed-time came the men were requested to step out of
doors while the women spread out a broad bed upon the mid-floor,
and put themselves to bed in the center; the signal was given and
the men came in, and each husband took his place in bed next his
own wife, and the single men outside beyond them again. They
were generally so crowded that they had to lie " spoon " fashion, and
when any one wished to turn over he would say " Spoon," and the
whole company of sleepers would turn over at once. This was the
only way the}' could all keep in bed.
COOKING.
To witness the various processes of cooking in those days would
alike surprise and amuse those who have grown up since cooking
stuves and ranges came into use. Kettles were hung over the large
fire, suspended with pot-hooks, iron or wooden, 011 the crane, or
on poles, one end of which would rest upon a chair. The long-
handled frying-pan was used for cooking meat. It was either held
over the blaze by hand or set down upon coals drawn out upon the
hearth. This pan was also used for baking pan-cakes, also called
"flap-jacks," ''batter-cakes," etc. A better article for this, however,
was the cast-iron spider or Dutch skillet. The best thing for baking
bread those days, and possibly even yet in these latter days, was the
flat-bottomed bake kettle, of greater depth, with closely fitting cast-
iron cover, and commonly known as the " Dutch-oveu." With coals
over and under it, bread and biscuit would quickly and nicely
248 HISTORY OF INDIANA.
bake. Turkey and spare-ribs were sometimes roasted before the fire,
suspended by a string, a dish being placed underneath to catch the
drippings.
Hominy and samp were very much used. The hominy, however,
was generally hulled corn — boiled corn from which the hull, or
bran, had been taken by hot lye; hence sometimes called "lye
hominy." True hominy and samp were made of pounded corn. A
popular method of making this, as well as real meal for bread, was
to cut out or burn a large hole in the top of a huge stump, in the
sbape of a mortar, and pounding the corn in this by a maul or beetle
suspended on the end of a swing pole, like a well-sweep. This and
the well-sweep consisted of a pole 20 to 30 feet long, fixed in an up-
right fork, so that it could be worked " teeter " fashion. It was a
rapid and simple way of drawing water. When the samp was suffi-
ciently pounded it was taken out, the bran floated off, and the deli-
cious grain boiled like rice.
The chief articles of diet in early days were corn bread, hominy
or samp, venison, pork, honey, beans, pumpkin (dried pumpkin for
more than half the year), turkey, prairie chicken, squirrel and some
other game, with a few additional vegetables a portion of the year.
Wheat bread, tea, coffee and fruit were luxuries not to be indulged
in except on special occasions, as when visitors were present.
women's woek.
Besides cooking in the manner described, the women had many
other arduous duties to perform, one of the chief of which was
spinning. The "big wheel" was used for spinning yarn, and the
"little wheel" for spinning flax. These stringed instruments fur-
nished the principal music of the family, and were operated by our
mothers and grandmothers with great skill, attained without pecu-
niary expense and with far less practice than is uecessarj T for the
girls of our period to acquire a skillful use of their costly and elegant
instruments. But those wheels, indispensable a few years ago, are
all now superseded by the mighty factories which overspread the
country, furnishing cloth of all kinds at an expense ten times less
than would be incurred now by the old system.
The loom was not less necessary than the wheel, though they
were not needed in so great numbers. Not every house had a loom —
HISTORY OF INDIANA. 249
one loom had a capacity for the needs of several families. Settlers
having succeeded, in spite of the wolves, in raising sheep, com-
menced the manufacture of woolen cloth; wool was carded and
made into rolls by hand cards, and the rolls were spun on the
" big wheel." We still occasionally find in the houses of old set-
tlers a wheel of this kind, sometimes used for spinning and twisting
stocking yarn. They are turned with the hand, and with such
velocity that it will run itself while the nimble worker, by her back-
ward step, draws out and twists her thread nearly the whole length
of the cabin. A common article woven on the loom was linsey,
or linsey-woolsey, the chain being linen and the filling woolen. The
cloth was used for dresses for the women and girls. Nearly all the
clothes worn by the men were also home-made; rarely was a farmer
or his son seen in a coat made of any other. If, occasionally, a
young man appeared in a suit of " boughten " clothes, he was sus-
pected of having gotten it for a particular occasion, which occurs in
the life of nearly every young man.
DRESS AND MANNERS.
The dress, habits, etc., of a people throw so much light upon
their conditions and limitations that, in order better to show the
circumstances surrounding the people of the State, we will give a
short exposition of the manner of life of our Western people at dif-
ferent epochs. The Indians themselves are credited by Charlevoix
with being " very laborious," — raising poultry, spinning the wool of
the buffalo, and manufacturing garments therefrom. These must
have been, however, more than usually favorable representatives of
their race.
" The working and voyaging dress of the French masses," says
Reynolds, " was simple and primitive. The French were like the lilies
of the valley [the Old Ranger was not always exact in his quota-
tions], — they neither spun nor wove any of their clothing, but pur-
chased it from the merchants. The white blanket coat, known as
the capot, was the universal and eternal coat for the winter with the
masses. A cape was made of it that could be raised over the head
in cold weather.
" In the house, and in good weather, it hung behind, a cape to the
blanket coat. The reason that I know these coats so well is that
250 HISTORY OF INDIANA.
I have worn many in my youth, and a working man never wore
a better garment. Dressed deer-skins and blue cloth were worn
commonly in the winter for pantaloons. The bine handkerchief
and the deer-skin moccasins covered the head and feet generally of
the French Creoles. In 1800 scarcely a man thought himself
clothed unless he had a belt tied round his blanket coat, and on one
side was hung the dressed skin of a pole-cat, filled with tobacco,
pipe, flint and steel. On the other side was fastened, under the belt,
the butcher knife- A Creole in this dress felt like Tarn O'Shanter
filled with usquebaugh — he could face the devil. Cheeked calico
shirts were then common, but in winter flannel was frequently worn.
In the summer the laboring men and the voyageurs often took their
shirts off in hard work and hot weather, and turned out the naked
back to the air and sun."
" Among the Americans," he adds, " home-made wool hats were
the common wear. Fur hats were not common, and scarcely a
boot was seen. The covering of the feet in winter was chiefly
moccasins made of deer-skins and shoe-packs of tanned leather.
Some wore shoes, but not common in very early times. In the
summer the greater portion of the young people, male and female,
and many of the old, went barefoot. The substantial and universal
outside wear was the blue linsey hunting shirt. This is an excel-
lent garment, and I have never felt so happy and healthy since I
laid it off. It is made of wide sleeves, open before, with ample size
so as the envelop the body almost twice around. Sometimes it had
a large cape, which answers well to save the shoulders from the
rain. A belt is mostly used to keep the garment close around the
person, and, nevertheless, there is nothing tight about it to hamper
the body. It is often fringed, and at times the fringe is composed
of red, and other gay colors. The belt, frequently, is sewed to the
hunting shirt. The vest was mostly made of striped linsey. The
colors were made often with alum, copperas and madder, boiled
with the bark of trees, iu such a manner and proportions as the old
ladies prescribed. The pantaloons of the masses were generally
made of deer-skin and linsey. Coarse blue cloth was sometimes
made into pantaloons.
l; Linsey, neat and fine, manufactured at home, composed gener-
ally the outside garments of the females as well as the males.
HISTORY OF INDIANA. 251
The ladies had Hnsey colored and woven to suit their fancy. A
bonnet, composed of calico, or some gay goods, was worn on the head
when they were in the open air. Jewelry on the pioneer ladies was
uncommon; a gold ring was an ornament not often seen."
Iu 1820 a change of dress began to take place, and before 1830,
according to Ford, most of the pioneer costume had disappeared.
"The blue linsey bunting-shirt, with red or white fringe, had given
place to the cloth coat. [Jeans would be more like tne fact.] The
raccoon cap, with the tail of the animal dangling down behind, had
been thrown aside for hats of wool or fur. Boots and shoes had sup-
planted the deer-skin moccasins; and leather breeches, strapped
tight around the ankle, had disappeared before unmentionables of a
more modern material. The female sex had made still greater prog-
ress in dress. The old sort of cotton or woolen frocks, spun, woven
and made with their own fair bands, and striped and cross-barred
with blue d3'e and Turkey red, bad given place to gowns of silk and
calico. The feet, before in a state ot nudity, now charmed in shoes
of calf-skin or slippers of kid; and the head, formerly unbonneted,
but covered with a cotton handkerchief, now displayed the charms of
the female face under many forms of bonnets of straw, silk and Leg-
born. The young ladies, instead of walking a mile or two to church
on Sunday, carrying their shoes and stockings in their hands until
within a hundred yards of the place of worship, as formerly, now
came forth arrayed complete in all the pride of dress, mounted on
fine horses and attended by their male admirers."
The last half century has doubtless witnessed changes quite as
great as those set forth by our Illinois historian. The chronicler of
to-day, looking back to the golden days of ]830 to 1840, and com-
paring them with the present, must be struck with the tendency of
an almost monotonous uniformity in dress and manners that comes
from the easy inter-communication afforded by steamer, railway,
telegraph and newspaper. Home manufactures have been driven
from the houshold by the lower-priced fabrics of distant mills. The
Kentucky jeans, and the copperas-colored clothing of home manu-
facture, so familiar a few years ago, have given place to the cassimeres
and cloths of noted factories. The ready-made clothing stores,
like a touch ot nature, made the whole world kin, and may drape the
charcoal man in a dress-coat and a stove-pipe hat. The piints and
252 HISTORY OF INDIANA.
silks of England and France give a variety of choice and an assort-
ment of colors and shades such as the pioneer women could hardly
have dreamed of. Godey and Deniorest and Harper's Bazar are
found in our modern farm-houses, and the latest fashions of Paris
are not uncommon.
FAMILY WORSHIP.
The Methodists were generally first on the ground in pioneer
settlements, and at that early day they seemed more demonstrative
in their devotions than at the present time. In those days, too,
pulpit oratory was generally more eloquent and effective, while
the grammatical dress and other " worldly " accomplishments were
not so assiduously cultivated as at present. But in the manner
of conducting public worship there has probably not been so much
change as in that of family worship, or "family prayers" as it was
often called. We had then most emphatically an American edition
of that pious old Scotch practice so eloquently described in Burns 1
" Cotter's Saturday Night:"
The cheerfu' supper done, wi' serious face
They round the ingle formed a circle wide;
The sire turns o'er, wi' patriarchal grace,
The big ha' Bible, ance his father's pride;
His bonnet rev'rently is laid aside,
His lyart haffets wearing thin and bare;
Those strains that once did in sweet Zion glide;
He wales a portion with judicious care,
And "let us worship God," he says with solemn air.
They chant their artless notes in simple guise;
They tune their hearts,— by far the noblest aim;
Perhaps " Dundee's " wild warbling measures rise,
Or plaintive " Martyr's" worthy of the name;
Or noble " Elgin " beats the heavenward flame, —
The sweetest far of Scotia's hallowed lays.
Compared with these, Italian trills are tame;
The tickled ear no heart-felt raptures raise:
Nae unison hae they with our Creator's praise.
The priest-like father reads the sacred page, —
How Abraham was the friend of God on high, etc.
Then kneeling down, to heaven's Eternal King
The saint, the father and the husband prays;
Hope " springs exulting on triumphant wing,"
That thus they all shall meet in future days;
HISTORY OF INDIANA. 253
There ever bask in uncreated rays.
No more to sigh or shed the bitter tear,
Together hymning their Creator's praise,
In such society, yet still more dear,
While circling time moves round in an eternal sphere.
Once or twice a day, in the morning just before breakfast, or in
the evening just before retiring to rest, the head of the family would
call those around him to order, read a chapter in the Bible, announce
the hymn and tune by commencing to sing it, when all would join;
then he would deliver a most fervent prayer. If a pious guest were
present he would be called on to take the lead in all the exercises of
the evening; and if in those days a person who prayed in the family
or in public did not pray as if it were his very last on earth, his piety
was thought to be defective.
The familiar tunes of that day are remembered by the surviving old
settlers as being more spiritual and inspiring than those of the pres-
ent day, such as Bourbon, Consolation, China, Canaan, Conquering
Soldier, Condescension, Devotion, Davis, Fiducia, Funeral Thought,
Florida, Golden Hill, Greenfields, Ganges, Idumea, Imandra, Ken-
tucky, Lenox, Leaiider, Mear, New Orleans, Northfield, New Salem,
New Durham, Olney, Primrose, Pisgah, Pleyel's Hymn, Rockbridge,
Rockingham, Reflection, Supplication, Salvation, St. Thomas, Salem,
Tender Thought, Windham, Greenville, etc., as they are named in
the Missouri Harmony.
Members of other orthodox denominations also had their family
prayers in which, however, the phraseology of the prayer was some-
what different and the voice not so loud as characterized the real
Methodists, United Brethren, etc.
HOSPITALITY.
The traveler always found a welcome at the pioneer's cabin.
It was never full. Although there might be already a guest for
every puncheon, there was still "room for one more," and a wider
circle would be made for the new-comer at the log fire. If the
stranger was in search of land he was doubly welcome, and his host
would volunteer to show him all the " first-rate claims in this neck
of the woods," going with him for days, showing the corners and
advantages of every " Congress tract " within a dozen miles of his
own cabin.
254 HISTORY OF INDIANA.
To liis neighbors the pioneer was equally liberal. If a deer was
killed, the choicest bits were sent to his nearest neighbor, a half-
dozen miles away, perhaps. When a "shout" was butchered, the
same custom prevailed. If a new-comer came in too late for " crop-
ping," the neighbors would supply his table with just the same
luxuries they themselves enjoyed, and in as liberal quantity, until a
crop could be raised. When a new-comer had located his claim, the
neighbors for miles around would assemble at the site ot the new-
comer's proposed cabin and aid him in " gittin' " it up. One party
with axes would cut down the trees aud hew the logs; another with
teams would haul the logs to the ground; another party would
"raise" the cabin; while several of the old men would "rive the
clapboards " for the roof. By night the little forest domicile would
be up and ready for a " house-warming," which was the dedicatory
occupation of the house, when music and dancing and festivity would
be enjoyed at full height. The next day the new-comer would be as
well situated as his neighbors.
An instance of primitive hospitable manners will be in place
here, A traveling Methodist preacher arrived in a distant neigh-
borhood to till an appointment. The house where services were
to be held did not belong to a church member, but no matter for
that. Boards were raked up from all quarters with which to make
temporary seats, one of the neighbors volunteering to lead off in
the work, while the man of the house, with the faithful rifle on his
shoulder, sallied forth in quest of meat, for this truly was a
" ground-hog " case, the preacher coming and no meat in the house.
The host ceased not the chase until he found the meat, in the shape
of a deer; returning, he sent a boy out after it, with directions on
what " pint " to find it. After services, which had been listened to
with rapt attention by all the audience, mine host said to his wife,
" Old woman, I reckon this 'ere preacher is pretty hungry and you
must git him a bite to eat." "What shall I git him?" asked the
wife, who had not seen the deer; '* thar's nuthin' in the house to
eat." "Why, look thar," returned he; "thar's deer, and thar's
plenty of corn in the field; you git some corn and grate it while I
skin the deer, and we'll have a good supper for him." It is need-
less to add that venison and corn bread made a supper fit for any
pioneer preacher, and was thankfully eaten.
III.STOUY OF INDIANA. 255
TRADE.
In pioneer times the transactions of commerce were generally
carried on by neighborhood exchanges. Now and then a farmer
would load a flat-boat with beeswax, honey, tallow and peltries,
with perhaps a few bushels of wheat or corn or a few hundred
clapboards, and float down the rivers into the Ohio, and thence to
New Orleans, where he would exchange his produce for substantial
iu the shape of groceries and a little ready money, with which he
would return hy some one of the two or three steamboats then run-
ning. Betimes there appeared at the best steamboat landings a
number of " middle men " engaged in the " commission and for-
warding " business, buying up the farmers' produce and the tro-
phies of the chase and the trap, and sending them to the various
distant markets. Their winter's accumulations would be shipped
in the spring, and the manufactured goods of the far East or dis-
tant South would come back in return; and in all these transactions
scarcely auy money was seen or used. Goods were sold on a year's
time to the farmers, and payment made from the proceeds of the
ensuing crops. "When the crops were sold and the merchant satis-
fied, the surplus was paid out in orders on the store to laboring men
and to satisfy other creditors. When a day's work was done by a
working man, his employer would ask, " Well, what store do you
want your order on?" The answer being given, the order was
written and always cheerfully accepted.
MONET.
Money was an article little known and seldom seen among the
earlier settlers. Indeed, they had but little use for it, as they
could transact all their business about as well without it, on the
" barter " system, wherein great ingenuity was sometimes displayed.
When it failed in any instance, long credits contributed to the
convenience of the citizens. But for taxes and postage neither the
barter nor the credit system would answer, and often letters were
suffered to remain a long lime in the postoffice for the want of the
twenty-five cents demanded by the Government. With all this
high price on postage, by the way, the letter had not been brought
500 miles in a day or two, as the case is nowadays, but had prob-
ably been weeks on the route, and the mail was delivered at the
pioneer's postoffice, several miles distant from his residence, only
256 HISTORY OF IXDIAXA.
once in a week or two. All the mail would be carried by a lone
horseman. Instances are related illustrating how misrepresenta-
tion would be resorted to in order to elicit the sympathies of some
one who was known to have "two bits" (25 cents) of money with
him, and procure the required Governmental fee for a letter.
Peltries came nearer being money than anything else, as it came
to be custom to estimate the value of everything in peltries. Such
an article was worth so man} - peltries. Even some tax collectors
and postmasters were known to take peltries and exchange them for
the monej 7 required by the Government.
When the first settlers came into the wilderness they gener-
ally supposed that their hard struggle would be principally over
after the first year; but alas! they often looked for "easier times
next year" for many years before realizing them, and then they
came in so slily as to be almost imperceptible. The sturdy pioneer
thus learned to bear hardships, privation and hard living, as good
soldiers do. As the facilities for making money were not great,
they lived pretty well satisfied in an atmosphere of good, social,
friendly feeling, and thought themselves as good as those they had
left behind in the East. But among the early settlers who came to
this State were many who, accustomed to the advantages of an older
civilization, to churches, schools and society, became speedily home-
sick and dissatisfied. They would remain perhaps one summer, or
at most two, then, selling whatever claim with its improvements
they had made, would return to the older States, spreading reports
of the hardships endured by the settlers here and the disadvantages
which they had found, or imagined they had found, in the country.
These weaklings were not an unmitigated curse. The slight im-
provements they had made were sold to men of sterner stuff, who
were the sooner able to surround themselves with the necessities
of life, while their unfavorable report deterred other weaklings
from coming. The men who stayed, who were willing to endure
privations, belonged to a different guild; they were heroes every
one, — men to whom hardships were things to be overcome, and pres-
ent privations things to be endured for the sake of posterity, and
they never shrank from this duty. It is to these hardy pioneers
who could endure, that we to-day owe the wonderful improvement
we have made and the development, almost miraculous, that has
HISTORY OF INDIANA. 257
brought our State in the past sixty years, from a wilderness, to
the front rank among the States of this great natiou.
MILLING.
Not the least of the hardships of the pioneers was the procuring
of bread. The first settlers must* be supplied at least one year
from other sources than their own lauds; but the first crops, how-
ever abundant, gave only partial relief, there being no mills to
grind the grain. Hence the necessity of grinding by hand-power,
and many families were poorly provided with means for doing this.
Another way was to grate the corn. A grater was made from a
piece of tin sometimes taken from an old, worn-out tin bucket or
other vessel. It was thickly perforated, bent into a semicircular
form, and nailed rDugh side upward, on a board. The corn was taken
in the ear, and grated before it got dry and hard. Corn, however,
was eaten in various .ways.
Soon after the country became more generally settled, enterprising
men were ready to embark in the milling business. Sites along
the streams were selected for water-power. A person looking for
a mill site would follow up and down the stream for a desired loca-
tion, and when found he would go before the authorities and secure
a writ of ad quod damnum. This would enable the miller to have
the adjoining land officially examined, and the amount of damage by
making a dam was named. Mills being so great a public necessity,
they were permitted to be located upon any person's land where the
miller thought the site desirable.
AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS.
The agricultural implements used by the first farmers in this
State would in this age of improvement be great curiosities. The
plow used was called the "bar-share " plow; the iron point con-
sisted of a bar of iron about two feet long, and a broad share of
iron welded to it. At the extreme point was a coulter that passed
through a beam six or seven feet long, to which were attached
handles of corresponding length. The mold-board was a wooden
one split out of winding timber, or hewed into a winding shape, in
order to turn the soil over. Sown seed was brushed in by dragging
over the ground a sapling with a bushy top. In harvesting the
25S HISTORY OF INDIANA..
change is most striking. Instead of the reapers and mowers of to-
day, the sicdde and cradle were used. The grain was threshed with a
flail, or trodden out by horses or oxen.
HOG KILLING.
Hogs were always dressed before they were taken to market. The
farmer, if forehanded, would call in his neighbors some bright fall
or winter morning to help ''kill hogs. 7 ' Immense kettles of water
were heated; a sled or two, covered with loose boards or plank, con-
stituted the platform on which the hog was cleaned, and was placed
near an inclined hogshead in which the scalding was done; a quilt
was thrown over the top of the latter to retain the heat; from a
crotch of some convenient tree a projecting pole was rigged to hold
the animals for disemboweling and thorough cleaning. When
everything was arranged, the best shot of the neighborhood loaded
his rifle, and the work of killing was commenced. It was consid-
ered a disgrace to make a hog '"squeal" by bad shooting or by a
"shoulder stick," that is running the point of the butcher-knife
into the shoulder instead of the cavity of the breast. As each hog
fell, the "sticker" mounted him and plunged the butcher-knife,
long- aud well sharpened, into his throat; two persons would then
catch him by the hind legs, draw him up to the scalding tub, which
had just been filled with boiling-hot water with a shovelful of good
green wood ashes thrown in; in this the carcass was plunged
and moved around a minute or so, that is, until the hair would slip
off easily, then placed on the platform where the cleaners would
pitch into him with all their might and clean him as quickly as
possible, with knives and other sharp-edged implements; then two
stout fellows would take him up between them, and a third man to
manage the "gambrel " (which was a stout stick about two feet long,
sharpened at both ends, to be inserted between the muscles of the
hind legs at or near the hock joint), the animal would be elevated to
the pole, where the work of cleaning was finished.
After the slaughter was over and the hogs had had time to cool,
such as were intended for domestic use were cut up, the lard " tried "
out by the women of the household, and the surplus hogs taken
to market, while the weather was cold, if possible. In those
days almost every merchant had, at the rear end of his place of
HISTORY OF INDIANA. 259
business or at some convenient building, a " pork-bouse," and
would buy tbe pork of bis customers and of sucb others as would
sell to him, and cut it for tbe market. This gave employment to a
large number of hands in every villa^ \ who would cut and pack
pork all winter. The hauling of all this to the river would also
give employment to a large number of teams, and the manufacture
of pork barrels would keep many coopers employed.
Allowing for the difference of currency and manner of market-
ing, the price of pork was not so high in those days as at present.
Now, while calico and muslin are eight cents a yard and pork is five
and six cents a pound, then,whilc calico and muslin were twenty-five
cents a yard pork was one to two cents a pound. When, as the
country grew older and communications easier between the seaboard
and the great West, prices •went up to two and a half and three
cents a pound, the farmers thought they would always be content
to raise pork at such a price; but times have changed, even con-
trary to the current-cy.
There was one feature in this method of marketing pork that
made the country a paradise for the poor man in the winter time.
Spare-ribs, tenderloins, pigs' heads and pigs' feet were not con-
sidered of any value, and were freely given to all who could use
them. If a barrel was taken to any pork-bouse and salt furnished,
the barrel would be filled and salted down with tenderloins and
spare-ribs gratuitously. So great in many cases was the quantity
of spare-ribs, etc., to be disposed of, that they would be hauled
away in wagon-loads and dumped in the woods out of town.
In those early times much wheat was marketed at twenty-five to
fifty cents a bushel, oats the same or less, and corn ten cents a
bushel. A good young milch-cow could be bought for $5 to $10,
and that payable in work.
Those might truly be called "close times," yet the citizens of
the country were accommodating, and but very little suffering for
the actual necessities of life was ever known to exist.
PEAIRIE FIRES.
Fires, set out by Indians or settlers, sometimes purposely and
sometimes permitted through carelessness, would visit the prairies
every autumn, and sometimes the forests, either in autumn or
spring, and settlers could not always succeed in defending them-
selves against the destroying element. Many interesting incidents
are related. Often a fire was started to bewilder game, or to bare
260 HISTORY OF INDIANA.
a piece of ground for the early grazing of stock tlie ensuing spring,
and it would get away under a wind, and soon be beyond control.
Violent winds would often arise and drive the flames with such
rapidity that riders on the fleetest steeds could scarcely escape.
On the approach of a prairie fire the farmer would immediately
set about " cutting off supplies " for the devouring enemy by a
" back fire." Thus, by starting a small fire near the bare ground
about his premises, and keeping it under control next his property,
he would burn off a strip around him and prevent the attack of the
on-coming flames. A few furrows or a ditch around the farm con-
stituted a help in the work of protection.
An original prairie of tall and exuberant grass on fire, especially
at night, was a magnificent spectacle, enjoyed only by the pioneer.
Here is an instance where the frontiersman, proverbially deprived
of the sights and pleasures of an old community, is privileged far
beyond the people of the present day in this country. One could
scarcely tire of beholding the scene, as its awe-inspiring features
seemed constantly to increase, and the whole panorama unceasingly
changed like the dissolving views of a magic lantern, or like the
aurora borealis. Language cannot convey, words cannot express,
the faintest idea of the splendor and grandeur of such a conflagra-
tion at night. It was as if the pale queen of night, disdaining to
take her accustomed place in the heavens, had dispatched myriads
upon myriads of messengers to light their torches at the altar of
the setting sun until all had flashed into one long and continuous
blaze.
The following graphic description of prairie fires was written by
a traveler through this region in 1849:
" Soon the fires began to kindle wider and rise higher from the
long grass; the gentle breeze increased to stronger currents, and soon
fanned the small, flickering blaze into fierce torrent flames, which
curled up and leaped along in resistless splendor; and like quickly
raising the dark curtain from the luminous stage, the scenes before
me were suddenly changed, as if by the magician's wand, into one
boundless amphitheatre, blazing from earth to heaven and sweeping
the horizon round, — columns of lurid flames sportively mounting
up to the zenith, and dark clouds of crimson smoke curling away
and aloft till they nearly obscured stars and moon, while the rush-
ing, crashing sounds, like roaring cataracts mingled with distant
thunders, were almost deafening; danger, death, glared all around;
i* screamed for victims; yet, notwithstanding the imminent peril
HISTORY OF INDIANA. 261
of prairie fires, one is loth, irresolute, almost unable to withdraw
or seek refuge."
WILD HOGS.
"When the earliest pioneer reached this Western wilderness, game
was his principal food until he had conquered a farm from the
forest or prairie, — rarely, then, from the latter. As the country
settled game grew scarce, and by 1S50 he who would live by his
rifle would have had but a precarious subsistence had it not been
for "wild hogs." These animals, left by home-sick immigrants
whom the chiils or fever and ague had driven out, had strayed into
the woods, and began to multiply in a wild state. The woods each
fall were full of acorns, walnuts, hazelnuts, and these hogs would
grow fat and multiply at a wonderful rate in the bottoms and along
the bluffs. The second and third immigration to the country found
these wild hogs an unfailing source of meat supply up to that
period when they had in the townships contiguous to the river be-
come so numerous as to be an evil, breaking in herds into the
farmer's corn-fields or toling their domestic swine into their
retreats, where they too became in a season as wild as those in the
woods. In 1S38 or '39, in a certain township, a meeting was called
of citizens of the township to take steps to get rid of wild hogs. At
this meeting, which was held in the spring, the people of the town-
ship were notified to turn out en masse on a certain day and engage
in the work of catching, trimming and branding wild hogs, which
were to be turned loose, and the next winter were to be hunted and
killed by the people of the township, the meat to be divided pro
rata among the citizens of the township. This plan was fully
carried into effect, two or three days being spent in the exciting
work in the spring.
In the early part of the ensuing winter the settlers again turned
out, supplied at convenient points in the bottom with large kettles
and barrels for scalding, and while the hunters were engaged in
killing, others with horses dragged the carcasses to the scalding
platforms where they were dressed; and when all that could be
were killed and dressed a division was made, every farmer getting
more meat than enough, for his winter's supply. Like energetic
measures were resorted to in other townships, so that in two or
thrae years the breed of wild hogs became extinct.
262 HISTORY OF INDIANA.
NATIVE ANIMALS.
The principal wild animals found in the State by the early get-
tier were the deer, wolf, bear, wild-cat, fox, otter, raccoon, generally
called "coon," woodchuck. or ground-hog, skunk, mink, weasel,
muskrat, opossum, rabbit and squirrel; and the principal feathered
game were the quail, prairie chicken and wild turkey. Hawks,
turkey buzzards, crows, blackbirds were also very abundant. Sev-
eral of these animals furnished meat for the settlers; but their
principal meat did not long consist of game; pork and poultry
were raised in abundance. The wolf was the most troublesome
animal, it being the common enemv' of the sheep, and sometimes
attacking other domestic animals and even human beings. But
their hideous bowlings at night were so constant and terrifying
that they almost seemed to do more mischief by that annoyance
than by direct attack. They would keep everbod} 7 and every ani-
mal about the farm-house awake and frightened, and set all the dogs
in the neighborhood to barking. As one man described it: "Sup-
pose six boys, having six dogs tied, whipped them all at the same
time, and you would hear such music as two wolves would make."
To effect the destruction of these animals the county authorities
offered a bounty for their scalps; and, besides, big hunts were
common.
WOLF HUNTS.
In early days more mischief was done by wolves than by any
other wild animal, and no small part of their mischief consisted in
their almost constant barking at night, which always seemed so
menacing and frightful to the settlers. Like -mosquitoes, the
noise they made appeared to be about as dreadful as the real depre-
dations they committed. The most effectual, as well as the most
exciting, method of ridding the country of these hateful pests, was
that known as the " circular wolf hunt," by which all the men and
boys would turn out on an appointed day, in a kind of circle com-
prising many square miles of territory, with horses and dogs, and
then close up toward the center of their field of operation, gather-
ing not only wolves, but also deer and many smaller " varmint."
Five, ten, or more wolves by this means would sometimes be killed
in a single day. The men would be organized with as much
system as a little army, every one being well posted in the meaning
of every signal and the application of every rule. Guns were
scarcely ever allowed to be brought on such occasions, as their use
HISTORY OF INDIANA. 2G3
would be unavoidably dangerous. The dogs were depended upon
for the final slaughter. The dogs, by the way, had all to be held
in check by a cord in the hands of their keepers until the final
signal was given to let them loose, when away they would all go to
the center of battle, and a more exciting scene would follow than
can be easily described.
BEE-HUNTING.
This wild recreation was a peculiar one, and many sturdy back-
woodsmen gloried in excelling in this art. He would carefully
watch a bee as it filled itself with the sweet product of some flower
or leaf-bud, and notice particularly the direction taken by it as it
struck a "bee-line" for its home, which when found would be
generally high up in the hollow of a tree. The tree would be
marked, and in September a party would go and cut down the tree
and capture the honey as quickly as they could before it wasted
away through the broken walls in which it had been so carefully
stowed away by the little busy bee. Several gallons would often be
thus taken from a single tree, and by a very little work, and pleas-
ant at that, the early settlers could keep themselves in honey the
year round. By the time the honey was a year old, or before,
it would turn white and granulate, yet be as good and healthful as
when fresh. This was by some called " candid " honey.
In some districts, the resorts of bees would be so plentiful that
all the available hollow trees would be occupied and many colonies
of bees would be found at work in crevices in the rock and holes in
the ground. A considerable quantity of honey has even been taken
from such places.
SNAKES.
In pioneer times snakes were numerous, such as the rattlesnake,
viper, adder, blood snake and many varieties of large blue and green
snakes, milk snake, garter and water snakes, black snakes, etc., etc.
If, on meeting one of these, you would retreat, they would chase
you very fiercely; but if you would turn and give them battle, they
would immediately crawl away with all possible speed, hide in the
grass and weeds, and wait for a "greener " customer. These really
harmless snakes served to put people on their guard against the
more dangerous and venomous kinds.
It was the practice in some sections of the country to turn out in
companies, with spades, mattocks and crow-bars, attack the princi-
pal snake dens and slay large numbers of them. In early spring
264 HISTOKY OF INDIANA.
the snakes were somewhat torpid and easily captured. Scores of
rattlesnakes were sometimes frightened out of a single den, which,
as soon as they showed their heads through the crevices of the rocks,
were dispatched, and left to be devoured by the numerous wild hogs
of that day. Some of the fattest of these snakes were taken to the
house and oil extracted from them, and their glittering skins were
saved as specifics for rheumatism.
Another method was to so fix a heavy stick over the door of their
dens, with a long grape-vine attached, that one at a distance could
plug the entrance to the den when the snakes were all out sunning
themselves. Then a large company of the citizens, on hand by ap-
pointment, could kill scores of the reptiles in a few minutes.
SHAKES.
One of the greatest obstacles to the early settlement and pros-
perity of this State was the " chills and fever," " fever and ague,"
or " shakes," as it was variously called. It was a terror to new-
comers; in the fall of the year almost everybody was afflicted with it.
It was no respecter of persons; everybody looked pale and sallow as
though he were frost-bitten. It was not contagious, but derived
from impure water and air. which are always developed in the
opening up of a new country of rank soil like that of the Xorthwest.
The impurities continue to be absorbed from day to day, and from
week to week, until the whole body corporate became saturated with
it as with electricity, and then the shock came; and the shock was a
regular shake, with a fixed beginning and ending, coming on in
some cases each day but generally on alternate days, with a regu-
larity that was surprising. After the shake came the fever, and
this " last estate was worse than the first." It was a burning-hot
fever, and lasted for hours. When you had the chill you couldn't
get warm, and when you had the fever yon couldn't get cool. It
was exceedingly awkward in this respect; indeed it was. Nor would
it stop for any sort of contingency ; not even a wedding in the family
would stop it. It was imperative and tyrannical. When the ap-
pointed time came around, everything else had to be stopped to at-
tend to its demands. It didn't even have any Sundays or holidays;
after the fever went down you still didn't feel much better. You
felt as though you had gone through some sort of collision,
thrashing-machine or jarring-machine, and came out not killed, but
next thing to it. You felt weak, as though you had run too far after
something, and then didn't Catch it. You felt languid, stupid a*4
HISTOKY OF INDIANA. 205
sore, and was down in the mouth and heel and partially raveled
out. Your back was out of fix, your head ached and your appetite
crazy. Your eyes had too much white in them, your ears, especially
after taking quinine, had too much roar in them, and your
whole body and soul were entirely woe-begone, disconsolate, sad,
poor and good for nothing. You didn't think much of yourself,
and didn't believe that other people did, either; and you didn't
care. You didn't quite make up your mind to commit suicide, but
sometimes wished some accident would happen to knock either the
malady or yourself out of existence. You imagined that even the
dogs looked at you with a kind of self-complacency. You thought
the sun had a kind of sickly shine about it.
About this time you came to the conclusion that you would not
accept the whole Western country as a gift; and if you had the
strength and means, you picked up Hannah and the baby, and your
traps, and went back "yander" to " Old Virgiuny," the " Jar-
seys," Maryland or " Pennsjdvany."
" And to-day the swallows flitting
Round my cabin see me sitting
Moodily within the sunshine,
Just inside my silent door,
Waiting for the ' Ager,' seeming
Like a man forever dreaming ;
And the sunlight on me streaming
Throws no shadow on the floor ;
For I am too thin and sallow
To make shadows on the floor —
Nary shadow any more ! "
The above is not a mere picture of the imagination. It is sim-
ply recounting in quaint phrase what actually occurred in thousands
of cases. Whole families would sometimes be sick at one time
and not one member scarcely able to wait upon another. Labor or
exercise always aggravated the malady, and it took General Lazi-
ness a long time to thrash the enemy out. And those were the
days for swallowing all sorts of roots and " yarbs," and whisky,
etc., with some faint hope of relief. And finally, when the case
wore out, the last remedy taken got the credit of the cure.
EDUCATION.
Though struggling through the pressure of poverty and priva-
tion, the early settlers planted among them the school-house at the
earliest practical period. So important an object as the education
2G6 HISTOEY OF INDIANA.
of their children they did not defer until they could build more
comely and convenient houses. They were for a time content with
such as corresponded with their rude dwellings, but soon better build-
ings and accommodations were provided. As may readily be sup-
posed, the accommodations of the earliest schools were not good.
Sometimes school was taught in a room of a large or a double log
cabin, but oftener in a log house built for the purpose. Stoves
and such heating apparatus as are now in use were then unknown.
A mud-and-stick chimney in one end of the building, with earthen
hearth and a fire-place wide and deep enough to receive a four to
six-foot back-log, and smaller wood to match, served for warming
purposes in winter and a kind of conservatory in summer. For
windows, part of a log was cut out in two sides of the building,
and maybe a few lights of eight by ten glass set in, or the aper-
ture might be covered over with greased paper. Writing desks
consisted of heavy oak plank or a hewed slab laid upon wooden
pins driven into the wall. The four-legged slab benches were in
front of these, and the pupils when not writing would sit with
their backs against the front, sharp edge of the writing-desks.
The floor was also made out of these slabs, or " puncheons," laid
upon log sleepers. Everything was rude and plain; but many of
America's greatest men have gone out from just such school-houses
to grapple with the world and make names for themselves and re-
flect honor upon their country. Among these we can name Abra-
ham Lincoln, our martyred president, one of the noblest men
known to the world's history. Stephen A. Douglas, one of the
greatest statesmen of the age, began his career in Illinois teaching
in one of these primitive school- houses. Joseph A. Wright, and
several other statesmen of the Northwest have also graduated
from the log school-house into political eminence. So with many
of her most eloquent and efficient preachers.
HISTORY OF INDIANA. 2G7
SPELLING -SCHOOLS.
The chief public evening entertainment for the first 30 or 40
years of Western pioneering was the celebrated "spelling-school."
Both young people and old looked forward to the next spelling-
school with as much anticipation and anxiety as we nowadays look
forward to a general Fourth-of-July celebration ; and when the time
arrived the whole neighborhood, yea, and sometimes several neigh-
borhoods, would flock together to the scene of academical combat,
where the excitement was often more intense than had been expect-
ed. It was far better, of course, when there was good sleighing;
then the young folks would turn out in high glee and be fairly
beside themselves. The jollity is scarcely equaled at the present
day by anything in vogue.
When the appointed hour arrived, the usual plan of commencing
battle was for two of the young people who might agree to play
against each other, or who might be selected to do so by the school-
teacher of the neighborhood, to " choose sides," that is, each con-
testant, or " captain," as he was generally called, would choose the
best speller from the assembled crowd. Each one choosing alter-
nately, the ultimate strength of the respective parties would be
about equal. When all were chosen who could be made to serve,
each side would "number," so as to ascertain whether amid the
confusion one captain had more spellers than the other. In case he
had, some compromise would be made by the aid of the teacher, the
master of ceremonies, and then the plan of conducting the campaign,
or counting the misspelled words, would be canvassed for a moment
by the captains, sometimes by the aid of the teacher and others.
There were many ways of conducting the contest and keeping tally.
Every section of the country had several favorite methods, and all
or most of these were different from what other communities had.
At one time they would commence spelling at the head, at another
time at the foot; at one time the}' would " spell across," that is, the
first on one side would spell the first word, then the first on the
other side; next the second in the line on each side, alternately,
down to the other end of each line. The question who should spell
the first word was determined by the captains guessing what page
the teacher would have before him in a partially opened book at a
distance; the captain guessing the nearest would spell the first word
pronounced. When a word was missed, it would be re-pronounced,
or passed along without re-pronouucing (as some teachers strictly
268 HISTORY OF INDIANA.
followed the rule never to re-pronounce a word), until It was spelled
correctly. If a speller on the opposite side finally spelled the missed
word correctly, it was counted a gain of one to that side; if the
word was finally corrected by some speller on the same side on
which it was originated as a missed word, it was " saved," and no
tally mark was made.
Another popular method was to commence at one end of the
line of spellers and go directly around, and the missed words
caught up quickly and corrected by " word-catchers," appointed by
the captains from among their best spellers. These word-catchers
would attempt to correct all the words missed on his opponent's
side, and failing to do this, the catcher on the other side would
catch him up with a peculiar zest, and then there was fun.
Still another very interesting, though somewhat disorderly,
method, was this: Each word-catcher would go to the foot of the
adversary's line, and every time he " catched " a word he would go
up one, thus "turning them down" in regular spelling-class style.
When one catcher in this way turned all down on the opposing side,
nis own party was victorious by as many as the opposing catcher
was behind. This method required no slate or blackboard tally to
be kept.
One turn, by either of the foregoing or other methods, would
occupy 40 minutes to an hour, and by this time an intermission or
recess was had, when the buzzing, cackling and hurrahing that en-
sued for 10 or 15 minutes were beyond description.
Coming to order again, the next style of battle to be illustrated
was to "spell down," by which process it was ascertained who were
the best spellers and could continue standing as a soldier the longest
But very often good spellers would inadvertently miss a word in
an early stage of the contest and would have to sit down humilia-
ted, while a comparatively poor speller would often stand till nearly
or quite the last, amid the cheers of the assemblage. Sometimes
the two parties first " chosen up " in the evening would re-take
their places after recess, so that by the " spelling-down " process
there would virtually be another race, in another form ; sometimes
there would be a new " choosing up " for the " spelling-down " con-
test; and sometimes the spelling down would be conducted with-
out any party lines being made. It would occasionally happen that
two or three very good spellers would retain the floor so long that
the exercise would become monotonous, when a few outlandish
words like " chevauxdefrise," "Oinpompanoosuc" or "Baugh-
HISTORY OF INDIANA. 269
naugh-claugh-ber," as they used to spell it sometimes, would create
a little ripple of excitement to close with. Sometimes these words
would decide the contest, but generally when two or three good
spellers kept the floor until the exercise became monotonous, the
teacher would declare the race closed and the standing spellers ac-
quitted with a " drawn game."
The audience dismissed, the next thing was to " go home," very
often by a round-about way, " a-sleighing with the girls," which,
of course, was with many the most interesting part of the even-
ing's performances, sometimes, however, too rough to be com-
mended, as the boys were often inclined to be somewhat rowdyish.
SINGING-SCHOOL.
Next to the night spelling-school the singing-school was an occa-
sion of much jollity, wherein it was difficult for the average singing-
master to preserve order, as many went more for fun than for music.
This species of evening entertainment, in its introduction to the West,
was later than the spelling-school, and served, as it were, as the second
step toward the more modern civilization. Good sleighing weather was
of course almost a necessity for the success of these schools, but how
many of them have been prevented by mud and rain! Perhaps a
greater part of the time from November to April the roads would be
muddy and often half frozen, which would have a very dampening
and freezing effect upon the souls, as well as the bodies, of the
young people who longed for a good time on such occasions.
The old-time method of conducting singing-school was also some-
what different from that of modern times. It was more plodding
and heavy, the attention being kept upon the simplest rudiments,
as the names ot the notes on the staff, and their pitch, and beating
time, while comparatively little attention was given to expression
and light, gleeful music. The very earliest scale introduced in the
West was from the South, and the notes, from their peculiar shape,
were denominated " patent " or " buckwheat " notes. They were
four, of which the round one was always called sol, the square one
la, the triangular owe fa, and the "diamond-shaped" one mi, pro :
nounced me; and the diatonic scale, or "gamut" as it was called
then, ran thus:_/<z, sol, la, fa, sol, la, mi, fa. The part of a tune
nowadays called "treble," or "soprano," was then called " tenor;"
the part now called " tenor " was called " treble," and what is now
"alto" was then "counter," and when sung according to the oldest
rule, was sung by a female an octave higher than marked, and still
2', HISTORY OF INDIANA.
on the " chest register." The "old" "Missouri Harmony" and
Mason's " Sacred Harp " were the principal books used with this
style of musical nutation.
About 1850 the " round-note" system began to " come around,"
being introduced by the Yankee singing-master. The scale was
do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, si, do; and for many years thereafter there
was much more do-re-mi-ing than is practiced at the present day,
when a musical instrument is always under the hand. The Car-
mina Sacra was the pioneer round-note book, in which the tunes
partook more of the German or Puritan character, and were gener-
ally regarded by the old folks as being far more spiritless than
the old " Pisgah," " Fiducia," " Tender Thought," « New Durham,"
" "Windsor," " Mount Sion," " Devotion," etc., of the old Missouri
Harmony and tradition.
GUARDING AGAINST INDIANS.
The fashion of carrying fire-arms was made necessary by the
presence of roving bands of Indians, most of whom were ostensi-
bly friendly, but like Indians in all times, treacherous and unreli-
able. An Indian war was at any time probable, and all the old
settlers still retain vivid recollections of Indian massacres, murders,
plunder, and frightful rumors of intended raids. While target
practice was much indulged in as an amusement, it was also neces-
sary at times to carry their guns with them to their daily field work.
As an illustration of the painstaking which characterized pioneer
life, we quote the following from Zebulon Collings, who lived about
six miles from the scene of massacre near Pigeon Roost, Indiana:
" The manner in which I used to work in those perilous times
was as follows: On all occasions I carried my rifie, tomahawk and
butcher-knife, with a loaded pistol in my belt. When I went to
plow I laid my gun on the plowed ground, and stuck up a stick by
it for a mark, so that I could get it quick in case it was wanted.
I had two good dogs; I took one into the house, leaving the other
out. The one outside was expected to give the alarm, which would
cause the one inside to bark, by which I would be awakened, hav-
ing my arms always loaded. I kept my horse in a stable close to
the house, having a port-hole so that I could shoot to the stable door.
During two years I never went from home with any certainty of
returning, not knowing the minute I might receive a ball from an
unknown hand."
HISTORY OF INDIANA. 271
THE BRIGHT SIDE.
The history of pioneer life generally presents the dark side of the
picture; but the toils and privations of the early settlers were not a
series of unmitigated sufferings. No; for while the fathers and
mothers toiled hard, they were not averse to a little relaxation, and
had their seasons of fun and enjoyment, They contrived to do
something to break the monotony of their daily life and furnish
them a good hearty laugh. Among the more general forms of
amusements were the " quilting-bee," "corn-husking," "apple-par-
ing," " log-rolling" and "house-raising." Our young readers wili
doubtless be interested in a description of these forms of amuse-
ment, when labor was made to afford fun and enjoyment to all par-
ticipating. The "quilting-bee," as its name implies, was when the
industrious qualities of the busy little insect that " improves each
shining hour " were exemplified in the manufacture of quilts for the
household. In the afternoon ladies for miles around gathered at an
appointed place, and while their tongues would not cease to play,
the hands were as busily engaged in making the quilt; and desire
a? always manifested to get it out as quickly as possible, for then
the fun would begin. In the evening the gentlemen came, and the
hours would then pass swiftly by in playing games or dancing.
" Corn-huskings " were when both sexes united in the work. They
usually assembled in a large barn, which was arranged for the oc-
casion; and when each gentleman had selected a lady partner the
husking began. When a lady found a red ear she was entitled to
a kiss from every gentleman present; when a gentleman found one
he was allowed to kiss every lady present. After the corn was all
husked a good supper was served; then the "old folks" would
leave, and the remainder of the evening was spent in the dance and
in having a general good time. The recreation afforded to the
young people on the annual recurrence of these festive occasions
was as highly enjoyed, and quite as innocent, as the amusements of
the present boasted age of refinement and culture.
The amusements of the pioneers were peculiar to themselves-
Saturday afternoon was a holiday in which no man was expected
to work. A load of produce might be taken to " town " for sale or
traffic without violence to custom, but no more serious labor could
be tolerated. "When on Saturday afternoon the town was reached
"fun commenced." Had two neighbors business to transact, here
it was done. Horses were " swapped." Difficulties settled and
272 HISTOKY OF INDIANA.
free fights indulged in. Blue and red ribbons were not worn in
those days, and whisky was as free as water; twelve and a half
cents would buy a quart, and thirty-five or forty cents a gallon,
and at such prices enormous quantities were consumed. Go to any
town in the county and ask the first pioneer you meet, and he would
tell you of notable Saturday-afternoon fights, either of which to-day
would fill a column of the Police News, with elaborate engravings
to match.
Mr. Sandford C. Cox quaintly describes some of the happy feat-
tures of frontier life in this manner:
We cleared land, rolled logs, burned brush, blazed out paths
from one neighbor's cabin to another and from one settlement to
another, made and used hand-mills and hominy mortars, hunted
deer, turkey, otter, and raccoons, caught fish, dug ginseng, hunted
bees and the like, and — lived on the fat of the land. "We read of a
land of " corn and wine," and another " flowing with milk and
honey;" but I rather think, in a temporal point of view, taking into
account the richness of the soil, timber, stone, wild game and
other advantages, that the Sugar creek country would come up to
any of them, if not surpass them.
I once cut cord-wood, continues Mr. Cox, at 31J cents per cord,
and walked a mile and a half night and morning, where the first
frame college was built northwest of town (Crawfordsville).
Prof. Curry, the lawyer, would sometimes come down and help for
an hour or two at a time, by way of amusement, as there was little
or no law business in the town or country at that time. Reader,
what would you think of going six to eight miles to help roll logs,
or raise a cabin? or ten to thirteen miles to mill, and wait three or
four days and nights for your grist? as many had to do in the
first settlement of this country. Such things were of frequent oc-
currence then, and there was but little grumbling about it. It was
a grand sight to see the log heaps and brush piles burning in the
night on a clearing of 10 or 15 acres. A Democratic torchlight
procession, or a midnight march of the Sons of Malta with their
grand Gyasticutus in the center bearing the grand jewel of the
order, would be nowhere in comparison with the log-heaps and
brush piles in a blaze.
But it may be asked, Had you any social amusements, or manly
pastimes, to recreate and enliven the dwellers in the wilderness?
We had. In the social line we had our meetings and our singing-
schools, sugar-boilings and weddings, which were as good as ever
HISTORY OF INDIANA. 273
what would you think of going six to eight miles to help roll logs,
or raise a cabin? or ten to thirteen miles to mill, and wait three
or fonr clays and nights for your grist? as many had to do in the
first settlement of this country. Such things were of frequent
occurrence then, and there was but little grumbling about it. It
was a grand sight to see the log heaps and brush piles burning
in the night on a clearing of 10 or 15 acres. A Democratic
torchlight procession, or a midnight march of the Sons of Malta
with their grand Gyasticutns in the center bearing the grand
jewel of the order, would be nowhere in comparison with the
log-heaps and brush -piles in a blaze.
But it may be asked, Hail you any social amusements, or manly
pastimes, to recreate and enliven the dwellers in the wilderness?
We had. In the social line we had our meetings and our singing-
schools, sugar-boilings and weddings, which were as good as ever
came off in any country, new or old; and if our youngsters did
not " trip the light fantastic toe" under a professor of the Terp-
sichorean art or expert French dancing master, they had many a
good " hoe-down" on puncheon floors, and were not annoyed by bad
whisky. And as for manly sports, requiring mettle and muscle,
there were lots of wild hogs running in the cat-tail swamps on Lye
creek, and Mill creek, and among them many large boars that
Ossian's heroes and Homer's model soldiers, such as Achilles, Hec-
tor and Ajax would have delighted to give chase to. The boys and
men of those days had quite as much sport, and made more money
and health by their hunting excursions than our city gents nowa-
days playing chess by telegraph where the players are more than
70 miles apart.
WHAT THE PIONEERS HAVE DONE.
There are few of these old pioneers living as connecting
links of the past with the present. What must their thoughts
be as with their dim eyes they view the scenes that surround them ?
We often hear people talk about the old- fogy ideas and fogy ways,
and want of enterprise on the part of the old men who have gone
through the experiences of pioneer life. Sometimes, perhaps,
such remarks are just, but, considering the experiences, education
' and entire life of such men, such remarks are better unsaid.
They have had their trials, misfortunes, hardships and adventures,
2i4 HISTORY OF INDIANA.
and shall we now, as they are passing far clown the western decliv-
ity of life, and many of them gone, point to them the finger of
derision, and laugh and sneer at the simplicity of their ways'?
Let us rather cheer them up, revere and respect them, for beneath
those rough exteriors beat hearts as noble as ever throbbed in the
human breast. These veterans have been compelled to live for
weeks upon hominy and, if bread at all, it was bread made from
corn ground in hand-mills, or pounded up with mcrtors. Their
children have been destitute of shoes during the winter; their
families had no clothes except what was carded, spun, wove and
made into garments by their own hands; schools they had none;
churches they had none; afflicted with sickness incident to all
new countries, sometimes the entire family at once; luxuries of
life they had none ; the auxiliaries, improvements, inventions and
labor-saving machinery of to-day they had not; and what they
possessed they obtained by the hardest of labor and individual ex-
ertion, yet they bore these hardships and privations without mur-
muring, hoping for better times to come, and often, too, with but
little prospect of realization.
As before mentioned, the changes written on every hand are
most wonderful. It has been but three-score years since the white
man began to exercise dominion over this region, erst the home of
the red men, yet the visitor of to-day, ignorant of the past of the
country, could scarcely be made to realize that within these years
there has grown up a population of 2,000,000 people, who in all
the accomplishments of life are as far advanced as are the inhab-
itants of the older States. Schools, churches, colleges, palatial
dwellings, beautiful grounds, large, well-cultivated and produc-
tive farms, as well as cities, towns and busy manufactories, have
grown up, and occupy the hunting grounds and camping places of
the Indians, and in every direction there are evidences of wealth,
comfort and luxury. There is but little left of the old landmarks.
Advanced civilization and the progressive demands of revolving
years have obliterated all traces of Indian occupancy, until they
are only remembered in name.
&r G^,%&*L~
PART II.
HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY.
HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY.
CHAPTER I.
BY D. D. EANTA.
Indian History — Pre-historic Races — Early Indian Occu-
pants — The Miamis, Their Habits and Characteristics
— Indian Relics — The Delawares — Their Residence in
Indiana — Remnants From Other Tribes — Last of the
Red Men.
HE history of the Indian occupation of a county situ-
ated as Johnson County is, prior to its colonization
by the white man, must necessarily be meager and
unsatisfactory. Occupying the level lands lying between
the White and Blue rivers — lands covered by a rank
and gloomy forest, and predominated by marshes and
sluggish streams, it is no cause for wonder if neither
that vanished race we call the Mound Builders, nor that
vanishing one we call the Indians, found much encouragement to
establish, within the region, permanent homes. While the surround-
ing counties are said to abound in the remains of the handiwork
of the people who built the mounds, in all of Johnson County only
the feeblest evidence of their occupation remains. On Sugar
Creek, two miles above its confluence with Blue River, two mounds
are to be seen which have never been examined by digging, but
which appear to have had an artificial origin. In White River
Township, on the farm of Levi Guseclore are two low mounds
which have yielded ashes, which seems to settle the question of
their artificial origin. The land between the rivers was, unques-
tionably, in the remote past, under the dominion of, and parts of it
no doubt, actually occupied as places of residence by, the Mound
Builders. But the prints of their occupation are far more numer-
ous in Shelby County on the east, and Morgan on the west. The
river hills in these counties afforded them both dry home sites, and
dry fields for tilling maize. Trails leading from river to river con-
nected the east and west communities, and the territory since framed
278 JOHNSON COUNTY.
into Johnson County, was thus, no doubt, as well known to them
as if they had made their homes on its every knoll. Besides, the
Mound Builders were hunters as well as agriculturists, and the for-
ests of the unoccupied country, we may well suppose, teemed with
game.
During the past two years I have made such collection of John-
son County "Indian Relics," as time and opportunity permitted,
and of the stone implements in my possession, or that I have seen,
that were found in the county, quite a number are identical in pat-
tern with implements that have been found in mounds. None of
the implements referred to, were taken from mounds, but all are
what is known as "Surface Finds," and were, of course, once
lost by owners. It does not follow, however, that the losing
owners were Mound Builders. Some stone implements taken
from mounds, and which the Mound Builders had in common
use, notably, the flints and axes, it is well known the Indians
manufactured, and for aught we know, they made about even-
thing out of stone that the Mound Builders themselves made.
Furthermore, it may readily be seen that the stone implements
found in Johnson County, while not manufactured by the Indians,
may have come into their possession bv finding elsewhere, and been
lost again. It is a curious fact that man}' of the best specimens,
and those most nearly allied to the mound-implement forms, have
been found in places where there never could have been habitations,
snch as marsh lands. The losers must have been traveling at the
time their loss occurred; and while this fact exists, another is
equally prominent. On the knolls and high banks near the " Deer
Licks," the places where we would expect the Indian encampments
to have been, and where thev were, judging from the great abun-
dance of implements found, man}' implements are picked up be-
longing to the Mound Builders' patterns. Xo doubt, the Mound
Builder hunters encamped at, and watched, the deer licks, and thev
may have lost the implements in question. And so, too, may the
Indian. The onlv conclusive evidence after all, that the county
was ever occupied by the people called the Mound Builders, must
be found in the mounds themselves.
Of the Indian occupancy we know more, and yet how little of
that! When the Ohio Valley first became known to Europeans,
the Miami Indians were found occupying all the countrv from the
Wabash to the Muskingum, and from the Ohio well up toward the
lakes. Thev had no traditions of former migrations, but declared
they had occupied the countrv from time immemorial. " The
Miamis," says Bancroft, " were the most powerful confederacv in
the West." When the countrv was first discovered their seat of
INDIAN HISTORY. 279
empire was on the Wabash, but for the sake of trading with the
English " they moved their chief towns eastward." Their town of
Piequa contained about 400 families, and was one of the strongest
in that part of the continent." Of their occupancy we know little
more than in a territory large enough for an empire they had few
centers bt permanent settlement, and their entire population must
have been considerably less than the population of Johnson County
at the present time. Bancroft says: " On the discovery of Amer-
ica, the number of scattered tenants of the territory which now
forms the States of Ohio and Michigan, of Indiana and Illinois and
Kentucky, could hardly have exceeded 18,000."* In 1760, accord-
ing to Parkman, the same sparseness of population continued.
" So thin and scattered was the native population, that even in
those parts which were thought well peopled, one might sometimes
journey for days together through the twilight forests and meet no
human form. Broad tracts were left in solitude. All Kentucky
was a vacant waste, a mere skirmishing ground for the hostile
parties of the north and south. A great part of Upper Canada, of
Michigan and of Illinois, besides often portions of the west, were
tenanted by wild beasts alone. To form a close estimate of the
number of erratic bands who roamed this wilderness would be im-
possible; but it may be affirmed, that between the Mississippi on
the west and the ocean on the east, between the Ohio on the south
and Lake Superior on the north, the whole Indian population at the
close of the French War, did not greatly exceed 10,000 fighting
men. Depending on the chase as the Miamis did for a livelihood,
it is a most reasonable supposition that the wild animals found on
their river, Wanfie Kom-i (White River) and its tributaries, con-
tributed to their support. From time immemorial their trails led
from the Wabash across the Ohio into the Kentucky canebreaks,
one of which passed through this countv. Bands of Miami hunters
could not fail to pursue the game inhabiting the White River coun-
try, and that meant the migration of families and the establishment
of camps, and probably of villages, which were occupied during the
hunting season. When the red •man went to war he left his family
behind, but when he went on an extended hunting excursion he
took his family and all his personal belongings with him. His
abiding place depended in the main, on the means of securing live-
lihood close at hand. Whenever, for any cause, the game migrated,
he followed it. That every high and dry creek bank', and every
dry knoll near living water in the count}', has been occupied as a
camping site, if not a village site, in the remote past, we have indu-
bitable proof in the skeletons and other Indian remains found in
'The author evidently refers to the number of warriors.
28o JOHNSON COUNTY.
the gravel pits and other excavations made. One of these places
is in the northern part of White River Township. A line of
broken ridges extends through parts of Sections 33, 34 and 35, in
Congressional Township 14. Springs were within convenient dis-
tance, and excellent deer licks were found in the vicinity by the
pioneer settlers. All the conditions were favorable to the occu-
pancy of the knolls and ridges by an aboriginal population, and the
remains found prove they took advantage of it. In the excava-
tions made for gravel, human skeletons, stone implements, earthern
pots, deer horns and bones, and in one place a buffalo's head and
feet have been found, and that in such numbers as to lead to the
conclusion that the occupancy was long continued.
Another place where the signs point to an ancient place of abor-
iginal habitation, is at the headwaters of Young's Creek. When
the early settlers came to Johnson County, they found on that
creek beginning on Section 31, and extending up through Section
30, in Township 13, an unusual number of deer licks, to which the
deers resorted in large numbers during the summer season. In
consequence of the sport to be had in that vicinity, it soon became
a noted hunters' resort. Since the country has been cleared up, it
transpires that the red hunters were in the habit of visiting this
region of licks in pre-historic times. So numerous are the flints,
stone axes and nondescript stone implements that have been picked
up on the plowed fields in that vicinity, and that are yet to be found,
that the conclusion cannot be avoided that there was a period when
the Indians spent a considerable part of the year there. The
knolls which were most used as places of habitation can be found
from their relics, and it is even believed that on different knolls, a
difference in the pattern of a majority of the flints found can be
detected, which, if true, is a fact worthy of note, for it points to
occupancy by different tribes, and consequently different periods.
Another place where the aboriginal hunters, with their families,
made their abiding place, was on the banks of Young's Creek at
Franklin. Over forty years ago while an excavation was being
made for the foundation of a county seminary, numerous skele-
tons were found which attracted a good deal of attention at the
time by reason of their unusually large size. In so many places in
Indiana and the adjoining states have skeletons of extraordinary
size been found, as to point to the fact of an occupation at one time
by a tribe of unusually large men. This does not imply a differ-
ent race — only a difference in the conditions of growth of the same
race. We are not without an example of a similar development
within a limited area since the occupation of the country by the
white people. Fifty years after the disastrous defeat of Gen. St.
INDIAN HISTORY. 28l
Clair, the skeletons of the Kentucky soldiers killed in that battle
were exhumed, and out of more than seventy taken from one
grave, two only were of men who had been less than six feet in
height. In the early days of the country's history a skeleton was
exhumed at Edinburg, the lower jaw of which was of such extraor-
dinary development that it would readily fit mask-like over the
lower jaw of the largest man in the community.
The Franklin skeletons were the theme of the first poetical
effusion ever written or printed in Johnson County. On the 13th
of December, 1845, the first number of the Franklin Examiner
was issued by John R. Kerr, " the blind printer," in which ap-
peared the following verses written by himself :
Lines on seeing human bones of extraordinary size taken from an excavation at the Jolmson
County Seminary.
Thy body for ages in silence hath slept,
And moulder'd in darkness, unknown and unwept;
For thy tribe and thy kindred have bowed to the ban,
Which dooms to the dust all glory of man.
A race though more feeble, more ruthless have come,
Who reck not to scoff as they break up thy tomb;
They scatter thy bones with the sands on the street,
To be trodden like dirt by the vilest of feet.
Thy relics, tho' mangled and scatter'd we see,
Yet plead for man's dignity, leaving him free;
His lore from the wide book of nature to draw,
Untrammeled by labor, by letters or law.
They carry us back to the records of Time,
When nature in majesty wild and sublime,
Bade all tilings of life to perfection expand,
And giant with mastodon strove for command.
JHut destruction did come like a merciless wave,
Sweeping widely the land of the mighty and brave;
And the tumuli standing in silence, are all
That record their existence, their might, or their fall.
Many other places might be pointed out, tending to prove that
the country was occupied for centuries before the white men
took possession. The vast number of flints and other stone imple-
ments that have been sown broadcast over the whole face of the
country tends to prove this. The flint, the axe, the celt, all required
labor and skill to fashion. With fair usage all would last a life-
time, and unless buried with the owner, would at his death descend
to someone else, and without accident, last him a lifetime. Practi-
cally, the Indian's stone implement was imperishable, and the ones
found represent the ones lost. We may well imagine that when-
ever a hunter shot an arrow tipped with a flint he did not shut his
sharp eyes against the place of its descent. A large per cent, he
282 JOHXSOX COUNTY.
would lose, but he lost no more than he could help. Much less
would he be apt to lose his other implements. To him thev were
expensive; he had few of them to look after, and it is a reasonable
supposition that a red man seldom lost an axe, a scraper, a gorget
or other like implement. And vet what a harvest of these things
have been picked up one time or other in Johnson county! And
what a long period of occupancy by men of the stone age, do the
great number of implements which have been lost in as circum-
scribed a territory as Johnson Count}-, indicate !
Between 1736 and 174S, according to Schoolcraft, the Dela-
ware Indians, who at the time of the discovery of America, pitched
their tents in the valleys of the Delaware and Schuylkill, were
driven from their ancient home by the six nations, and migrated
toward the setting sun, establishing themselves by permission of the
Miamis, on the banks of the Muskingum. Here they ultimately
joined in the league with the Miamis, Wvandotts and other tribes,
against the encroachments of the Big Knife, of the Virginia frontier.
" After a few years," continues Schoolcraft, " they took shelter on
the White Water " (White River). This was with the consent of
the Miamis. In truth it seems to have been a sort of exchange of
territory, for it was not far from this time that the Miamis broke
up their settlements on the Wabash, to a considerable extent, and
went into the Ohio country to be near to the British in Canada.
By the consent of the Miamis, and their own act, the Delawares
became involved with all the lands watered bv the White River
and its tributaries. Before 1791, there was a Delaware village at
the junction of the east and west forks of White River, and it may
be assumed in the absence of evidence to the contrarv that the
rirst migrations to the White River country, took place about the
middle of the last half of the eighteenth centurv. Thev were river
Indians, and kept to the streams. Their beautiful river thev named
the Opecomeecak. So says H. W. Beckwith in the Twelfth Indiana
Geological Report, 41. On Daniel Hough's map in the same report
the name is spelled Wah-mc-ca-mc-ca . The late John B. Dillon,
Esq., gave the writer the following as the Miami name of the river,
viz. : Waupekomica. The orthography was his. These are differ-
ent spellings, evidently of the same name. The Delawares mav
have utilized the Miami name. All their villages were on rivers.
From the headwaters of the west branch of White River, to its
junction with the east fork, Delaware villages were to be met with.
The river afforded them an easy means of communication with all
the towns. From these centers, hunters went on excursions for
game, usually taking their families with them and building their
lodges in the woods where the game was to be found. One of
INDIAN HISTORY. 283
these villages was in Johnson County. The reader who will ex-
amine a map of the county will observe that White River cuts off
the northwest corner, a fraction over a 1,000 acres. On the west
side of the river was the site of that ancient town. The first knowl-
edge we have of it, conies from John Tipton, one of the commis-
sioners to locate the State Capital, who visited the spot on two
occasions in the spring of 1S20. The first notice of the ancient vil-
lage is in his "Journal," under date of May 26: " We then returned
to our camp and set out to examine the northwest side of the river.
Crossed into an overflowed bottom; came to a place where the
river turns to the west, making a very short bend; runs hard
against the west shore and seems to be a very difficult pass for
boats of burthen. At this place the growth is all young timber.
Some remains of old cabins. I am told there was an Indian village
here. Mr. William Landers, who lives one mile back from the
river, told me that an Indian said the French once lived here and
that he, the Indian, went to school to a Frenchman in this place;
but thev left it about the time of Hardin's campaign, which was
about thirtv-three years ago." On the 5th of the month following,
John Tipton again visited the place, and writes in his Journal as
follows: " Here I am told was once a French village; then oc-
cupied by Delaware Indians, but evacuated by them about thirty-
three years ago."
The statements taken together are very interesting. They es-
tablish the fact that the French began a settlement at the place in-
dicated; that they subsequently abandoned it; that the Delaware
Indians then took possession of it, and that, about 1787, thev, in
turn, abandoned it. Now, if the Delawares migrated to the White
River country about 1775, as we may assume they did, the aban-
donment of the town by the French was before that time. How
long. -1 Not many years. Mr. Landers moved to the country in
1820, and the Indian told him that while the French vet lived there,
he '-went to school to a Frenchman." They had therefore aban-
doned the place within the lifetime of a man who told his story not
later than in the spring of 1820. This would put the time some-
where between 1760 and 1775; and the first named year was the
one in which, by treaty, French Dominion over the West passed
to the English. How long before that they founded the town we
have no means of conjecturing. Judge Franklin Hardin who has
lived for fifty years in the neighborhood of the ancient town site,
and who has been much interested in its history, says, that when
William Landers came to the country there was a tract of land of 200
acres, and was overgrown with bushes, which had once been farmed
by the Indians. Indians still lived on that portion of the once
2S4 JOHNSON COUNTY.
cleared land, lying in White River Township on the west side of
the river. Capt. Big Fire, Little Duck, and Johnny Quack, are
remembered, while on the east side, and lower down on the old
Morgan, or Denny place, lived Capt. White, another Indian. Here
also, was an ancient cleared field. Still below Capt. White's place,
on the left bank of the river, was, says Judge Hardin, another
Indian location and burial ground, but no cultivation. This encamp-
ment was owned bv Big Bear. On the old Morgan County part
of the old Indian field, Capt. Tunis had his wigwam, and just ad-
joining in Marion, Old Solomon, his. The wigwams were situated
en the right bank of the river, at the southeast corner of the farm,
near the middle of Section 31. Here seems to have been, once,
a stone wall thirty or forty feet long and five or six feet high, built
of portable undressed stones, and laid parallel with the river, and
a hundred feet distant. The Indians said this wall was built for
defensive purposes against the Kentuckians; that thev had seen a
bloody battle fought there once, between them and the whites, be-
ginning on the east bank of the river, where they were surprised,
and that they were forced over the river, assaulted in the town, and
finally driven out. " That thereafter the farm had never been occu-
pied, except by a few returning families. The size of the brush
growing on and about the once cleared land at that date, 1820,
showed that it had but recently been abandoned. An old Ken-
tuckian of great reliability, Stephen Watkins, on a visit to White
River Township, twenty-five years ago, repeated precisely the
same history of this town, and the battle and all the circumstances
of the fight. He went so far as to point to the near battlefield;
he said he had the particulars from one of the actors, and knew
them to be true. Does history give any account of this battle?
In Dillon's History of Indiana, it is shown that the Pigeon Roost
Massacre took place in the north part of Scott County, about
eighty miles south of this Indian town, on the 3d day of Septem-
ber, 1S12. The next evening, 150 mounted riflemen, under com-
mand of Col. John McCov, followed the trail twenty miles. On
the 6th, the militia of Clark County (no number given) was re-en-
forced by sixty mounted volunteers from Jefferson County, and, on
the evening of the 7th, 350 volunteers from Kentucky were ready
to unite with the Indiana militia of Clark and Jefferson, for the pur-
pose of making an attack on the Delaware Indians, some of whom
were suspected of having been engaged in the destruction of the
Pigeon Roost settlement. * * * But, it is said, a spirit
of rivalry which prevailed among some of the officers defeated the
intention of those, who, at the time proposed to destroy the towns
of the friendly Delawares who lived on the western branch of White
INDIAN HISTORY. 2S5
River. Now hear what Maj. John Tipton says about these
'friendly Indians' on White River: 'In their way out, they (the
escaping Indians) passed the Saline or Salt Creek, and I there took
an old trail leading- direct to the Delaware towns, and it is my
opinion that while the Government is supporting one part of that
tribe (the Delawares), the other part is murdering our citizens.
"It is much to be desired that those rascals of whatever tribe they
may be harboring about these (Delaware) towns, should be routed,
which could be done with ioo men in seven days.' With
this spirit and purpose openly declared by the whites, how long do
we imagine they waited for an opportunity to execute it? Will any
one make me believe that 600 armed men at the Pigeon Roost
Massacre, after viewing the slaughtered and roasted human
bodies and burning houses, quietly dispersed and went home? Col.
Joseph Bartholomew raided these towns on White River with 137
men on the 15th day of June, 1S13. He found three towns,
two of which had been burnt about a month before. ( See Dillon,
524.) Who destroyed them? The reason that the battle at the
Delaware towns, if a battle did occur, and the breaking them
up on White River was never reported, is that the Government
during the war with the other Indian tribes in 1S11, 181 2 and
1813, was supporting and protecting the Delawares who had
promised to engage in peaceful pursuits. Gen. Harrison had
directed the Delawares to remove to the Shawanee's Reservation
in Ohio, and most of them had clone so soon after the battle of Mis-
sissinewa, December 17, 1S12. Those who refused to go received
but little mercy. But another proof of this battle is in the fact that
on the twenty-acre field, in the southeast corner of northwest
quarter, Section 32, Township 14 north, Range 3 east, near Capt.
White's old camp, large numbers of leaden bullets of eveiy size,
battered and bruised, have been found. I have had at least 100
of them myself, and have picked up at least nine, recently,
in a wash of the river, and have been told of hundreds being found
by others. I have passed a short distance from this field, on other
grounds more suitable for finding them, but never yet found any
except in this locality. And about three years since, on John Sut-
ton's farm, one mile and a fourth west of the battle-field, and only
one mile east of the Indian town, four frames of human bodies were
washed out of a low, wet piece of bottom land. The skulls were
carried off before I had an opportunity of examining them. No
Indian ever buried his dead in a low, wet piece of land. The)'
must have been buried there under pressing circumstances, and by
white men."
Judge Hardin is a close and accurate observer. He has studied
286 JOHNSON COUNTY.
the subject conscientiously, and his proofs are entitled to full
"faith and credit' in all the courts of history. But I cannot agree
with his conclusions as to the time when the battle he records was
fought. I think it ante-dates by many years the campaigns of 1812.
In October, 1818, the Delaware Indians ceded their lands on
the White River to the United States, reserving the possession
thereof for a term of three years. But before their time was up
they left their White River homes for a country beyond the Mis-
sissippi. They numbered, according to John Johnson, an Indian
Agent residing in Ohio, but who seems to have been well ac-
quainted with them, 2,300.* In the fall of 1820, a part of them
were removed to Arkansas, j- In the spring of 182 1, the remainder
were removed.;}; The county disagreeing with them, they were
soon after given lands in Kansas, where a remnant yet remains to
draw a yearly stipend from the United States. Parkman thus
photographs the Delaware brave of the far west: ' ; At the present
dav. the small remnant settled beyond the Mississippi, are among
the bravest marauders of the west. Their war parties pierce the
farthest wilds of the Rocky Mountains; and the prairie traveler
may sometimes meet the Delaware warrior returning from a suc-
cessful foray, a gaudy handkerchief bound about his brows, his snake
locks fluttering in the wind, and his rifle resting across his saddle,
bow while the tarnished and begrimed equipments of his half wild
horse, bear witness that the rider has wa\ laid and plundered some
Mexican cavalier." The cession of their country and final aban-
ment by the Delawares, seems to have been the signal for the
hunters of other tribes to rush in. For a period of five or six years,
following 1820, numerous bands of Indians visited the county in the
sugar-making season, and again in the fall-hunting season. Some
families wintered here. It would be difficult and perhaps serve no
good purpose, to give in this place an enumeration of the camping
grounds occupied by the Indians, subsequent to the settlement of the
county. It will be enough to refer to a few of the more noticeable
places. The highlands of Sugar Creek were a favorite Indian
camping ground. The Indian name of this stream was Thcn-a-mc-
say. In the falls of 1824 and 1825, the Indians camped on the
creek bluff not far from the " Sugar Creek Bridge." They are
supposed to have been Wvandotts and were professors of the Chris-
tian faith. It is related that they had killed a bear and one Sunday
morning some of the white men of the vicinity visited their camp
to purchase bear meat. They found the Indians sitting quietly in
*See Historical Collections of Ohio, published by Henry Howe, in 184S, p. 146.
t.Xiles Register, vol. 19, p. 191.
} Fourteenth Geological Report of Indiana, p. 31.
INDIAN HISTORY. 287
their camp. " What do you want?" asked one of them who could
talk English. "Bear meat," was the answer. " Come to-morrow,
Indians do not sell to-day." The next year, or the year after, a band
were encamped near the headwaters of Young's Creek. One Sun-
day morning Daniel Covert heard a strange noise in the distance
and went to investigate. It led him into an Indian camp. They
were at their devotions, and motioning him to a seat, he heard them
sing hymns and utter prayers in their own tongue. They are sup-
posed to have been the same Indians who had before that camped
on Sugar Creek. A young Indian hunter, belonging to the same
band, was accidently killed on Sugar Creek, and buried at the roots
of an oak, still standing on the bluff, between John Owens' house
and the bridge. While "tire hunting" on the creek one night, he
was shot by one of his own band by mistake. His comrades made
a trough of an ash tree into which they put his body and covered
it with a slab. Over his grave they set a post, as tall as a man,
which they painted red, with a cross-piece painted black. The
grave was enclosed with ash palings, driven into the earth.
When Judge Franklin Hardin, a lad of sixteen, first visited the
countiy in 1825, riding double with his mother, they traveled along
the Whetzel Trace, through what is now known as Clark Township.
"Added to the gloom of this dismal place (the Grand Gulf),
away to the northwest," savs the Judge, " was an Indian encamp-
ment, making the most of their privilege to hunt here. They
seemed to be making a drive of the game southward, the direction
we were traveling to Loper's, on Camp Creek. The constant
crack of the rifle, the crash of the brushwood, caused by the troops
of the flving, frightened deer, as they rushed thundering on with
branching horns and tails erect, widespread, grandly leaping high
above the shrubbery, with heads averted, as if to see the dis-
tant foe, and the widely scattered flock of wild turkeys as thev sped
on with long outstretched necks, half on foot, half on wing, far as
the eye could reach, was altogether a sight — one never to be for-
gotten by an old lady and a boy unused to such a wild scene." The
Indian hunters who were making such a wild display at that time,
belonged to a Pottawattamie band that were encamped on Section
36, Township 14, Range 4 east. James Kinnick moved to his place
in 1832, and found thereon the remains of their camp. One of the
wigwams was in a good state of preservation.
On a little creek which empties into Young's Creek from the
northeast, in Section 16, Township 12, Range 4 east (it runs about
a mile northwest of Franklin), the Indians were in the habit of
camping early in the year, trapping and making sugar. The little
creek bears the name of Indian Creek, which was given it by Levi
288 JOHNSON COUNTY.
Moore, who settled on Young's Creek, close to its union with that
creek. Moore was charged by the Indians with stealing their furs.
But no harm ever came to him on account of it. At Henry Byers'
place ( near Mount Pleasant Church ), was a noted camping ground.
On one occasion the Indians left that camp for a few days, first
tying their peltries in a bundle and springing it into a sapling be-
yond the reach of any prowling beast. On their return, their
bundle was gone. It had evidently been stolen, but by whom, was
never known. Not long after, William and David Burkhart, two
brothers, living at no great distance from Bvers', each had a horse
stolen in one night. Like the furs, the horses were never heard
of. It was thought by many of the pioneer settlers, that the Indians
believing the Burkharts had stolen their furs, had taken their horses
in retaliation.
In 1825 or 1826, a band of Wyandotte from Bellefontaine,
camped " up the Hurricane " a short distance from Franklin. Samuel
Herriott who was living in the town at the time, had a field of corn,
and sold occasionally to the Indians, corn for their ponies. Fre-
quently, when they would come after corn, Mr. Herriott would not
be at home, when Mrs. Herriott, would see that they got their
corn. She was, however, afraid of them, and always gave them
something to eat, which kindness the Indians highly appreciated.
There was a squaw belonging to the party by the name of Matilda,
who had a pappoose, and Mrs. Herriott having heard of it, and her
fear of the Indians having abated, she invited Matilda to come and
see her and bring her uappoose. One evening at dusk, three In-
dian men, Matilda and a boy, walked unannounced into the Her-
riott home. After seeing that her company was seated around the
fire and duly inquiring after their health, she turned to Matilda and
asked, "Where is your baby?" "O, sitting up to the outside of
the house!" was the mother's answer, and sure enough, on going
out, there in the gathering gloom of the night, was the baby
strapped firmly to a board.
During that evening's visit, an incident occurred that greatly
frightened Mrs. Herriott. The baby had been brought in out of the
night air and leaned up against the wall on the inside, and host and
hostess and their guests were sitting around the blazing fire engaged
in conversation. Mrs. Herriott and Matilda were at one side, and
Mr. Herriott next to them, and after him came Dr. Grev Eyes, and
then Jocko, and last of all an "ill-looking Indian" whose name has
been forgotten. During the conversation, Jocko arose to his feet
and presented Mr. Herriott a paper, which, on reading, he found to
be a certificate from Gen. Cass, showing that Jocko had rendered
important services to the United States in the War of 181 2. Ma-
INDIAN HISTORY. 289
tilda had become interested in the matter by this time, and as some-
thing had been said about Pittsburg, she said to Mr. Herriott to ask
Jocko if he had ever been there; and in response to the question,
Jocko took a coal and making a map on the floor, pointed out the
place where Pitsburg should be, and said "Yes." "Ever been to
Philadelphia?" "Yes." "To Baltimore?" "Yes." "To Wash-
ington?" "Yes." And to other questions as to what places he
had been in and persons seen in Washington, prompt answers came.
After that Matilda and Mr. Herriott became engaged in conver-
sation and during its progress Mr. Herriott noticed a pallor over-
spread his wife's face, followed by a visible trembling. Becoming
alarmed, he was in the act of going to her relief, when he felt a
clutch at his hair, and on turning around encountered Jocko, who
had his knife out and was iroino- throutrh the motions of taking his
scalp. This was Jocko's joke.
The high and dry lands bordering upon Indian Creek, in Hens-
ley Township, afforded inviting camping grounds to the Indians.
From this circumstance came the name. In the fall of 1824, the
largest number of Indians ever known to enter the count}', camped
on Indian Creek. The number was estimated by the settlers at
100, consisting mainly of Miamis, with a few Pottawattmies.
After a short time there the last, numbering about twelve, withdrew
from the Miami camp, and made another on the south fork of the
creek, in the southeast quarter of Section 27. After the fall hunt
was over, about half of the 'entire number went elsewhere, and
those left behind staid there all through the winter and until late
in the fall of 1825. These Indians seem to have behaved them-
selves quite well. Among so man}-, it would be strange if there
were not some who would steal. Richardson Hensley had cause
to complain of the squaws in green corn time. Under pretense of
buvin<r his roasting ears, thev would steal them before his eyes.
" In spite of me," he said to the writer, " they would pull the ears
and hide them in their blankets. Often I have jerked at one cor-
ner of the blanket and scattered the stolen corn on the ground."
Thev also stole a dog belonging to John Stevens. His boys, Alex-
ander and Gideon, and a foster son, Ephraim Hareell, went to their
camp on Sunday in search of the dog, which they found tied securely,
and took him home with them. The camp was deserted save an old
man and his squaw. Their wigwam was made by stretching-
skins over a pole frame. In the center of the ground floor was a
fire over which thev had hung a brass pot, in which the}- were
cooking an unwashed and un skinned bear's head, together with a
quantity of black beans.
It seems that no Indian ever seriouslv violated the civil laws in
29O JOHNSON COUNTY.
Johnson Count}-. If the Burkhart horses were stolen by the Indians,
it was never known. On one occasion a riot was threatened by the In-
dians in Franklin, which at the time, foreboded evil. It was in 1825,
and most likely the Indians from Indian Creek were the chief
actors. It was on the occasion of the fall muster, and Bartholo-
mew Carroll, of Union Township, came, provided with whisky and
honey, to sell to all who would buy. The Indians present were
among his best patrons. Toward evening they became somewhat
boisterous and some of them insisted on having whisky and honey
free. This being refused, they mounted the wagon and proceeded
to help themselves. With the aid of the cooler heads of the band,
they were induced to desist. Mounting their ponies, however, they
galloped around the public square whooping and screeching at the
top of their voices, and finally left town. The militia present were
armed and it required all the persuasive influence of the leading
citizens, to hold the more hot-headed in check and prevent a collis-
ion. After 1826, but few, if any, Indians ever returned to the county
to engage in any of their pursuits.
CHAPTER II.
BY D. D. I'.ANTA.
Early Settlements — Territorial Times — Traces and
Early Roads — The Whetzels — The Bluffs — Strug-
gle for the State Capitol — First Permanent Settle-
ment — Story of the Settlement by Townships — The
White and Blue River Settlements — Founding Frank-
lin — Reminiscences.
■"NDIANA was admitted as a State of the Union in
1S16. Delegates from thirteen counties framed the new
State's constitution. The population at the time of ad-
mission was 63,897. The settled parts constituted a nar-
row fringe, extending from Wayne County, down the
Ohio State line, to the Ohio River, thence down that to
the Wabash, and thence up that to Fort Harrison, now
Terre Haute. Throughout the entire region north of the
border, savage Indians roamed. The White River, and its numerous
tributaries, were owned and occupied mainly by the Delawares. The
region was no less remarkable for the great abundance of game
found in its forests, and of rish in its waters, than for the fertility of
EARLY SETTLEMENTS. 29 1
its soil. The Indians were loth to part with their possessions, and
the white people eagerly desirous of having them do so. After
one or two abortive attempts to procure a cession, in October, 1S18,
a treaty was made, under which the Delawares surrendered their
claim, and consented to their removal to a new home beyond the
Mississippi, which was effected in the spring of 1S21. Thereafter,
their old possessions were known far and wide as the " New Pur-
chase." Bands of Weas, Potawattamies and Miamis claimed small
parts of this territory, and ceded the same, as did the Delawares,
but the latter held undivided claim to all of Johnson Count}'.
Before the time of their going, the smoke from white men's
cabins was seen in many places throughout their domains. Bloom-
ington, on the border, was settled in the early part of 1819. The
same year, three permanent settlements were planted in Barthol-
omew County, one in Morgan and one in Marion, where Indianapolis
was subsequently located. In 1S1S, James Wilson settled on the
Blue River banks, four miles north of the present site of Shelby-
ville, and in the following year, a number of other pioneers, with
their families, moved into Shelby County.
Trappers' and hunters' camps were to be met with along the
streams, and in other favored places, all through the ceded region.
It was not only celebrated for its great abundance of game, but
also for its fur bearing animals, the most valuable of which was the
beaver. Their dams and ponds were everywhere to be seen in
the level lands of the country. Long anterior to the time of the
treaty, the White River country had been the scene of the trappers'
exploits. The Canadian voyageurs came as early as in the latter
half of the seventeenth century. A hundred years afterward they
were followed by the agents of the Northwest Company, and of
the Mackinaw Company, which were British corporations. The
American Fur Company, with John Jacob Astor at its head, fol-
lowed about the beginning of the present century. All these drew
large supplies of furs from the White River country.
The territory framed into Johnson County, lay along the line
of an ancient Indian highway. Geologists tell us that in the night
of time there flowed a glacial river southward through Johnson
County toward the Falls of the Ohio, at Louisville. The print of
its bed remains to this day. That ancient river bed presents a
comparatively smooth and even surface, nearly or quite all the way
to the Falls. The buffalo that once traveled in herds from their
winter feeding grounds in the Kentucky canebrakes to their sum-
mer pastures, on the Wabash, doubtless traveled over that smooth
and level, ancient river bed. Certain it is the Indians did, and after
l 9
2Q2 JOHNSON COUNTY.
the day of civilization had come, the engineers laid out the line of
railroad'from Jeffersonville to Indianapolis upon it.
The Falls was a celebrated Indian crossing place. At the mouth
of the Kentucky River was another. Thence, bearing northwesterly,
a trail ran till it united with the Ancient River trail, not far from
the upper rapids of the Inqiiah sahguak, the Indian name for the
Driftwood River. At the mouth of the Kentucky, Brig. Gen. Charles
Scott, with 800 mounted men, crossed the Ohio, on the 23<i-of May,
1 791, on the march to the Wea village, eight miles below the
present site of Lafayette. The route he took was, according to his
report, " the most direct," and this would be along the line of
the Kentucky River trail to the Driftwood, and thence along the
Ancient River trail, through the territory of Johnson County. Not
many years ago a broken sword blade and hilt with a pistol attached,
was found in a running stream four miles south of Franklin. It be-
longed to a pattern of cavalryman's weapon that has long been out
of vogue, but was to be met with a hundred years ago, and the in-
ference seems reasonable that it was cast aside or lost by one of
Gen. Scott's troopers on that march. All through the period of
border warfare, the Indians living upon the Wabash and upon the
upper waters of the White River, made frequent forays along these
trails to the Kentucky settlements. Many a pale face's scalp has,
no doubt, been carried at the belt of a brave, and many a white
prisoner, foot sore and weary, has been driven by his savage cap-
tors, through the gloomy forests of this county. Later, in the con-
tests between civilization and savagery, the yeomen soldiery from
the settlements in the river counties, not infrequently followed the
Ancient River trail in pursuit of their savage foes. Maj. Tipton,
Col. Bartholomew, and others, were leaders in these expeditions,
but there came a day when the wars were ended, and the trails be-
came highways of peace. In the settlement of central Indiana the
Kentuckv River trail and the Ancient River trail were for a time
important highways. Some of the first settlers found their
way to the White River wilderness by them. Some time in 1S19,
Capt. Richard Berry, following the Kentucky River trail out to the
Blue River crossing, built a cabin and established a ferry. North
and south of his new home he blazed the old trail, and thereafter
it came to be known as " Berry's trail." From the crossing at
Blue River (a mile below the present site of Edinburg), it ran in a
general northwest direction till it crossed Burkhart's Creek, in Sec-
tion 20, Township 12 north, Range 4 east. Thence it kept a gen-
eral north course, passing the Big Spring at Hopewell, and entering
Marion County territory near the northwest corner of Pleasant
Township.
EARLY SETTLEMENTS. 2q^
Long after the settlement of the county, and the abandonment
of the trail, evidences of it could be seen in the notches and blazes
on the trees along its course. Two miles north of the Bio- Spring
at Hopewell, near the late residence of Daniel Covert, and in the'
near vicinity of a deer lick, in addition to axe marks on the trees
inscriptions cut in the bark were long to be seen. On one were the
letters: ibmal 1S12. On another : e. maxwell 1814.* Still another
was the legend, " forty rods to water jgp." A never-failing
spring burst from the banks of the creek at" the place indicated.
In 181S, Jacob Whetzel, an inhabitant of Franklin County in
this state, became the owner of a tract of land in what was known
as - Harrison's Purchase," near the mouth of Eel River, to reach
which, by the ordinary route of travel, required a journey by the
way of Louisville. But Jacob Whetzel was not the man to ""o
a round-about way when a nearer lay through the woods. He was
of that Whetzel family so celebrated in border warfare. He had
been used to the wilderness all his life, and was not a strano- er to
Indian fighting. *\ hen eleven years of age, his father had been
killed, and himself and Lewis, a brother two years older taken
prisoners. Crossing the Ohio River, near which his father's cabin
stood (which was not far from Wheeling, W. Va.Y, the Indians led
the lads a distance of twenty miles in the Ohio woods, and camped
for tne night. Under cover of the darkness they escaped, and
eluding their enemies, who followed in hot haste, they reached the
Ohio, which they crossed in safety, to find their father's cabin in
ashes, and his mutilated body a prey to the wild beasts. It is said
the boys vowed eternal enmity to the Indians, a vow which the elder
kept in letter and spirit to the day of his death. His name never
ceased, as long as he lived, to be a terror to the red men, and it is
connected with many of the most romantic and thrilling episodes
of border warfare.
Jacob Whetzel seems to have been of a less sanguinary disposi-
tion than his brother Lewis, although he bore his part well in the
Indian wars of his time. He was in many of the principal cam-
paigns, and rendered to both Generals St. Clair and Harrison, sig-
nal service as a spy. But when the lighting was done, he settled
down to the peaceable life of an agriculturist. Nevertheless he
remained a woodsman in a sense, and so the Eel River purchase
being made, he applied to Anderson, the chief of the Delawares
and from him obtained a license to cut a trace from Brookville, on
Uie White Water, to the White River. This was in June. r8i8,
and in July following, he set out to perform the work. His
son
Ks^S^'S' MaxweI1 ' who afte ™ rd livedand died -
29+ JOHNSON COUNTY.
Cvrus a vouth of eighteen, accompanied him, as also did Thomas
H?we' Thomas Rush, Richard Rush and Walter Banks. His plan
wi to >each White River, and work back to Brookville. Talung
^ of the m en ; Thomas Rush, he went in advance marking the
?oute 1 aving his son and the rest of the men to follow with nine
H V provisions. Cvrus and his men had not entered Ear into the
tMerneTwhen, late one evening, they met a party of Indians
whose actions, notwithstanding their warm protestations of end-
ship excited suspicion. The two parttes passed each other, but
the white men who were unarmed, kept a more vigilant guard that
ni^ than « as common even in that day. The night set in c oudy
and rain soon began falling, but the hours passed quieth on, until
he camp fire burned low, when the man on guard discovered In-
dians lurking in the vicinity. Quietly waking his sleeping com-
panions thef as quietly abandoned their camp, and notwithstand-
ETS?gS of 1 the night, they followed Jacob ^ ^
man bv" feeling of the notches and blazes cut n the trees.
Whatever the motive that led the red men to prowl around their
Empire that night, nothing more was seen of them again on that
J ° Ur Me y eting with no other hindrances, save such as were incident
to he trackless wilderness, Cyrus Whetzel and ta '££"£■
iourneved on in the path indicated by the blazing of the trees, and
crossed Fla^ Rock about seven miles below the present; site of Rush-
•Ue and Blue River, about four miles above f ^y^le^uga
Creek a little north of Boggstown. On reaching a w atei-couise a
few mues east of White River, a nest of honey bees was discovered
n he hollow limb of a walnut tree, which yielded a liberal 1 supply
of honey: but it was too bitter to be eaten, and reluctanth the)
threw t away. Nevertheless, from this circumstance, came the
name of "Honey Creek," the first creek within the borders of this
countv to receive a name at the hands of white men
Wh te River was struck at the Bluffs, the place being so ) named
bv Jacob Whetzel at the time, and we may well imagine tl at the
sine which met the gaze of himself and companions was such as
the" li u e pec ed tosee. Jacob Whetzel had set out to reach by
So cut aSome at the mouth of the Eel River: but standing on
?he Bluff in the July days, he looked out over a wide, deep and
raoidlv flowing river, through whose clear depths the eye could
nenSate to the white pebblls that lay on the bottom, far below,
I ho "rs'varmeAith fish, and whose level bottoms and the
adjacent rolling uplands were covered with great ^^1 «,, *
from a soil of wonderful richness, and there on the b k * °^™
Opc-co-mcc-cah, of the Delaware tongue, he resolved to establish
his future home.
EARLY SETTLEMENTS. 295
Jacob Whetzel went alone down the river to his Eel River pos-
sessions, while young Cyrus, with the axemen, turned back and be-
gan the work of cutting out what was long known as "Whetzel's
Trace." Their progress was slow. A path was cut of sufficient
width to admit the passage of a team. Their chosen route led
them bv what is now known as " Doty"s Hill." After passing the
rolling land extending a short distance back from the river, the}'
found a level countrv, which at that season of the year, was one con-
tinuous swamp. In the dry seasons of previous years the Indians )/
had burned it off, and the road makers went farther in their work
that first day than any succeeding one. They reached the place of
an ancient beaver dam near the present eastern boundary line of
Pleasant Township. It was built across the outlet of a swamp and
made a pond of water a half mile long, and varying in width from
a few yards to several hundred, but at that time it apparently had
long been deserted by its furry inhabitants.
The road these men made wound in and out among the trees
and around the fallen logs as sinuous as a "runway."' The pur-
pose of its makers was to make a path along which the Whetzel
teams could travel to the White River. They had no thought of
any subsequent travel.
At the Hurricane, which they crossed in Section iS, Town 13
north, Range 5 east, and which afforded the only running water
between Honey Creek and Sugar Creek, thev established their
camp, and thence worked on the road east and west. This they
found to be a good camp site, and it occurred to Cyrus Whetzel to
name the stream Camp Creek, a name that afterward gave place to
Covert's Creek, and that in time to the present name, Hurricane,
so given to commemorate a wind storm that prior to the settlement l/
of the country had prostrated much of the timber along "its course.
Slowly hewing their way through the woods eastward, the axe-
men came at length to a great swamp about two miles west of the
present east boundary line of the county, which was known in the
early day as the Great Gulf. This was a mile in width and two
miles in length. Two streams, Flat Creek and the Leatherwood,
entered the low land, constituting the gulf at its northern end, and
their combined waters at the southern made Little Sugar Creek.
Sugar Creek was already named when the Whetzels came. Its
Indian name of Thcu-a-mc-sax was not in use among the white
trappers and hunters who were alreadv familiar with it. Great for-
ests of sugar trees grew at intervals along its banks, to which the
Indians themselves, in the sugar making season, came, and to the '
circumstance of these growing trees, it is supposed the present
name of the stream is owing.
2 q6 JOHNSON COUNTS".
Cyrus Whetzel never forgot the hardships endured while cut-
ting out the "Whetzel Trace," and especially that part of it lying
between Camp Creek and Sugar Creek. "We were often mid-
sides in water," said he, "and at night we had to make brush heaps
on which to sleep."
After crossing Sugar Creek they cut through to the next
considerable stream, a distance of five miles, encamping on its banks
late one evening, when Jacob Whetzel, on his return from his Eel
River expedition, rejoined them. After the scanty meal of the
evening, Jacob produced a bottle of peach brandy, which he
had procured in Owen County, and over it, the party in a merry
mood, pledged the memory of wives and sweethearts at home.
To the inspiration due to that bottle, are the people of Shelby
Countv indebted for the name of one of their prettiest streams—
Brandy-wine. The name was given that night. Soon after, then-
provisions giving out, the road making was abandoned, and \\ het-
zel and his men went on to their homes: but in a short time he re-
turned and completed his work. Whetzel's trace proved of consid-
erable importance in the settlement of Marion, Johnson, Morgan and
Shelby counties. Hundreds of the early settlers traveled over all
or parts of it in search of wilderness homes.
The following March, 1S19, Jacob Whetzel, with his son
Cyrus, returned to the Bluffs. Selecting a camping ground about
560 yards below the place where the Waverly mills were
afterward built, he began building a cabin, but ere this was done,
a violent snow storm came on and lasted until the snow was fifteen
inches deep. At length, he prepared a place of shelter, and that
sprincr cleared a small field in which he planted corn, not forgetting
to plant a quantity of peach seeds he had brought with him. The
following fall he moved his family to his new home, and thus he
became the first settler in Morgan County.
The permanent settlements of the Delaware Indians were on
White River, and their favorite mode of travel was in canoes along
that stream. But their towns were nevertheless connected by
trails, usually winding through the forests not far from the river.
Through that part of Johnson Countv, in which White River runs,
the Indian trail was on the east bank of the stream. Indeed, the
highway from Martinsville to Indianapolis, which passes through
Waverly and over the Bluffs, runs, in the main, not far from the
line of "that ancient trail. Other trails intersected it coming from
the south, and so the White River trail was an important highway
of the red men. And it cut some figure in the colonization of
Johnson Countv by the white men. While many of the early set-
ler s came into White River Township by the Whetzel trace, the
EARLY SETTLEMENTS. 297
very first ones came by the White River trail, and it is therefore
deserving of notice in this place.
From the year of the admission of Indiana, up to the time of
the taking of the census in 1820, the population of the State more
than doubled. The census showed a population of 147,178 in
1820. Indiana was well advertised abroad during the Indian wars.
It had been well traversed by a citizen soldiery, principally from
Kentucky, and the wars being over, the same soldiery and their
friends came in large numbers in hunt of homes.
On the nth of January, 1S20, commissioners were appointed
bv the General Assembly to locate a new seat of government,
which was clone in the month of June following. John Tipton, who
was subsequently elected to a seat in the United States Senate from
Indiana, was a member of that commission, and he has left a Jour-
nal containing an account of the travels and action of himself and
the commission, which, although very brief, and written without
any pretence of literary skill, is nevertheless packed with valuable
information to the student of the past. Tipton and Gov. Jennings
set out from their homes at Corydon on the 17th of May. They
laid in plenty of " baken coffey etc.," 1 and took with them " Bill, a
black bov"' and a tent. Striking the ancient river trail some-
where below the present site of Columbus, they traveled thereon
all the way through this county and on to the mouth of Fall Creek,
above the present site of Indianapolis. The party, which had in-
creased on the way till it numbered seven, did not reach Bezzy's
place till Saturday evening, the 20th of the month. It took them
four days to ride from Corydon to that place, and two hours and a
quarter to ride from the upper rapids of the In-quah-sah-quak.
With Bezzy they staid ovej night. Tipton, who "had an eye for
good ground, and at various times owned large tracts," saw the
beauty of the prospect around him. " Good land, good water and
timber,"' he wrote in his Journal. The next morning at half after
four o'clock the}- set out again, but now that these commissioners,
accompanied by the Governor of the State, are traveling through
Johnson County over an Indian path, and their movements become
more interesting to the thread of this history, the Journal becomes
provokingly obscure. It savs:
" Sunday, twenty-first, set out at half-past four. At five passed
a corner of Section 36, Township n north, of Range 4 east, passed a
place where Bartholomew and myself had encamped in June, 181 3,
missed our way. Traveled east then. At 8 o'clock stopped on a
muddy branch, boiled our coffev. At 9:30 turned back. I killed
a deer, the first one I have killed since 1814. Came on the train
(trail) at 10; found tree where I had wrote my name on the 19th
298 JOHNSON COUNTY.
of June, 1S13. We traveled fast and at 7 encamped on a small
creek, having traveled about Eorty-five miles."
It was the northeast corner of the southeast Section of
Nineveh Township, that was passed at 5 o'clock that Sunday morn-
ing: but where was it that General Bartholomew and himself had
encamped in June, 1S13? It was after passing that corner they
missed their way and traveled east. If we knew the time that
elapsed after passing the Section corner, before they missed their
way, we might, with some degree of certainty, locate the t; muddy
branch " and perhaps identify the very farm whereon the future
United States Senator killed his deer, that Sunday, June morning, so
many years ago, and may be find the spot where grew the tree on
which he wrote his name on the 19th of June, 1S13. But the most
we can say, is, that the encampment must have been in Nieveh
Township. The boiling of the " coffev " and the shooting of the
deer, most likelv took place within the borders of Blue River, and
the tree on which the name was written may have been in Nineveh
Township, but was probably in Franklin Township.
The Commissioners were sworn in on the 23rd of May, and
made the location on the 7th of June, fifteen days having been spent
traveling up and down the country examining the several places men-
tioned in connection therewith. One of these was the Bluffs on White
River. Recurring to Tipton's Journal, we find of the date of May
26th, this: "The bluff is about 150 feet above the river, but very
uneven. The water good. * * Out of this bluff issues a num-
ber of fine springs, one of which some distance back from the river,
has near twenty feet fall. Back of this bluff is a beautiful creek.
They (the bluffs) front on the river near one mile. If they were
level on top it would be the most beautiful site for a town that I
have ever seen."
Two of the commissioners favored the Bluff for the capital lo-
cation, but the majority went for the present site of Indianapolis.
Before the commission to locate the capital set forth on their work,
the United States Surveyors had begun their work in the New
Purchase, and they kept it up, long after the capital site was chosen.
All of Nineveh Township was surveyed by Abraham Lee, as early
as the month of September in 1S19. In June, 1S20, John Hen-
dricks surveyed so much of Franklin Township as lies in Congres-
sional Township 12, Range 5, and, in August of that year, Thomas
Hendricks surveyed Congressional Township 12, Range 4, being
in the west part of Franklin Township. In the same month of
August, John Hendricks surveved all the lands comprised within
the present boundaries of Blue River Township, and, as soon as he
had completed this, he went over and surveyed the Congressional
EARLY SETTLEMENTS.
-99
Township, better known as Union, and, while he was at that, B.
Bently was surveying Henslev. W. B. McLaughlin surveyed all
of White River, in Congressional Township 14, and Bently all that
is in Township 13; and, later in the season, all the territory now con-
tained within Pleasant Township was surveyed by Thomas Hen-
dricks, while John Hendricks surveyed all contained within Clark
Township.
First Permanent Settlement. — The time has now come when
the first permanent settlement is to be planted in Johnson Count}'.
In 1814 a young man by the name of John Campbell, born and
reared in Tennessee, went to find a home north of the Ohio. Fate
directed his footsteps to the vicinity of Wavnesville, in the State of
Ohio, where he married Ruth Perkins, a native of South Carolina.
In 1817 he moved to Connersville, and in 1S20 to the "new pur-
chase" on Blue River. It was as early as the latter part of Feb-
ruary, when, with his wife and four sons he set out through the
wilderness to become the first settler of a countv that was yet un-
formed and unnamed. Four little girls belonged to his household,
but these were left behind to follow on horseback, when the home
was prepared for them. A neighbor, Benjamin Crews, went with
him and helped to clear a path and drive his domestic animals and
team. The road which they cut must have been the most prim-
itive of paths, for, when two years after, Alexander Thompson,
Israel Watts and William Reynolds came over the same general
route, they found a wagon road to Flat Rock, south of Rushville,
but thence on they were compelled to cut their own way.
Campbell reached the Blue River on Saturday, the 4th of
March, and at once began the erection of a pole cabin, on the tract
of land lying immediately south of the present site of Edinburg,
and the same spring cleared a small field which he enclosed with a
brush fence to keep out his own stock, in time to raise a crop of
corn. Crews returned to Connersville for his family and moved
to Campbell's neighborhood the same spring, arriving on the 17th
of April. On a spot already selected by him, which afterward
proved to be on the Bartholomew side of the line, he encamped
the evening of his arrival. That night his son Jonathan, a lad
eight years of age, while lying down and looking at the moon,
through the limbs of a large tree, "saw something reach out a
hand and pull up a limb,"' to which he at once called his father's
attention, who said it was a coon. The next morning, on inspec-
tion, the tree was found to be hollow, and Benjamin Crews at once
cut it down, and as it fell crashing to the ground, a she bear and her
two cubs tumbled to the earth from their den in a hollow limb.
The dogs at once mounted the old beast, but cuffing them right
300 JOHNSON COUNTY.
and left, she made her escape, leaving her cubs in the hands of
their captors. Stripping the horses of their halters the two young
bears were soon securely tied, but the horses now thoroughly
alarmed at the unwonted commotion, and finding themselves at
liberty, took the back track for the White Water country and ran
eight miles before being overtaken and recaptured.
John Campbell's neighbors were Crews and Richard Beny, the
latter who lived a little over a mile below him, but within the pres-
ent limits of Bartholomew County, whither he had removed the year
before. But he did not have to wait long for others to come in.
A half dozen or more families, it is said, moved into the Blue River
woods, the same spring, but this is not certain. A large number
did come in during the vear. The lands since incorporated, in part,
into Blue River Township, were surveyed in August of that year,
and on the 4th of October, the same year, were exposed for sale at
the land office in Brookville. That dav these purchases were made
of Blue River lands (which were the first within the county) by James
Jacobs, William W. Robinson, and John Campbell, (who afterward
lived in Sugar Creek), and on the day following, John Campbell,
the first settler, and eight others made entries. Thirty-nine entries
in all were made before the close of the year, covering a total of
4,400 acres.
As far as now known, eighteen families moved into the new
settlement during the year, of which Henry Catsinger, Simon
Schaffer, Jesse Dawson, Zachariah Sparks, Elias Brock and
Joseph Townsend, were Kentuckians; William Williams, and as
already stated. John Campbell, were Tennesseeans; Amos Durbin
was from Virginia; John A. Mow and Joshua Palmer, were from
Ohio: Isaac Marshall and John Wheeler were from North Caro-
lina: Samuel Ilerriott, from Pensylvania, while the native places of
Louis Bishop, Thomas Ralston and Richard Cormorave are un-
kown.
The second year of the settlement, twenty-seven families are
known to have moved in. Elisha Adams came from Kentucky
and moved to the north end of the township, and founded the
Adams neighborhood. Richard Foster and John and William,
his brothers, Patrick Adams, Patrick Cowan, Arthur Robinson,
Curtis Pritchard, David Webb, William R. Hensley, William C.
Robinson, James Farrell, John Adams, John P. Barnett, Jacob
Cutsinger, Isaac Harvey (a Baptist preacher), Lewis Hays,
William Rutherford, Jefferson D. Jones, Thomas Russell and
Samuel Aldridge, all Kentuckians: and Isaac Collier, Israel Watts
and Jonathan Hougham, Ohioans: and Alexander Thompson, from
Virginia; Jesse Wells and Thomas Doan, from North Carolina,
EARLY SETTLEMENTS. 301
and William Reynolds, from Tennesee, moved in. By the close of
this year, the lands contiguous to Blue River were taken up, and a
line of settlement extended nearly across the south side of the town-
ship, while John Campbell, an Irishman, had laid the foundation of
a settlement at the mouth of Sugar Creek, and Lewis Hays and
William Rutherford had joined John Adams 1 settlement higher up
the creek.
In 1S22, fourteen families moved in. Of these Able Webb,
James Connor, Hezekiah Davison, William Hunt, James M. Dan-
iels, John Shipp, William Barnett, David Durbin, Hiram Ald-
ridge and Thomas Russell were from Kentucky; Charles Martin
and Samuel Umpstead were from Ohio; and it is not ascertained
whence came Baker Wells and Samuel Johnson, who came in
this year. In 1823, William Freeman moved from Bartholomew
County into the township, and Richard Shipp and John Hen-
drickson also moved in. All these were Kentucky born. By the
close of 1823, there were at least sixty-three families living in the
township.
Let us turn now from the southeast to the northwest, from Blue
River to White River. Capt. White, an Indian, early in 1820,
was found occupying a tract of land on the east bank of White
River, since known as the Denny place, and being near the center
of the northwest quarter of Section 32, in Township 14 north,
Range 3 east. Here was an extensive Indian clearing. Capt.
White left the country the same spring, going with his people, the
Delawares, to Arkansas, and in the " month of April or May," the
same year, one Daniel Morgan, a bachelor from western Pennsyl-
vania moved to White's place and took possession. He cultivated
a small held of corn, but the squirrels devoured his crop before
maturity, and he returned to the land of his nativity. In the' fall of
the same year, George Beeler, a resident of Morgan County, with
his wife and sister-in-law, moved to Capt. White's place, and took
posession; but Beeler died the same fall, and the White camp was
once more vacated.
The following spring another man moved to the Capt. White
place. This was Abraham Sells, a Virginian, who came to Wash-
ington County, in Indiana, about the middle of February, 1821.
" Leaving the female members of his family in that county, accom-
panied by his brother John Sells and four of his sons, and three of
his own, Isaac, William and Franklin, he set out for the White
River and reached Jacob Whetzel's about the 1st of March." He
had crossed over to the Indian trail, on the east bank of White
River, up which lie traveled, entering White River Township on
Friday, the 3d clay of March, 1821, and at once he took possession
3° 2 JOHNSON COUNTY.
of White's old wigwam. Abraham Sell's came to stay. He and
his, brought seventy-five hogs, eleven cattle and eight horses, be-
sides a goodly assortment of tools and provisions for the summer.
Their families were to come in the fall. The hogs and cattle were
turned into the woods to shift for themselves, together with such
of the horses as were not in immediate use. A field of five or six
acres was " brushed out" and enclosed with a temporary fence and
planted in corn. " West of the river was an old hackberry dead-
Ay ening, containing fifteen acres, requiring but little labor to bring it
\into cultivation. In the year 1S20, and in years subsequent, a small
green worm stripped the hackberry trees of all their leaves, killing
them in a few weeks."** That was also planted in corn. The corn
grown on the Capt. White place was broken into and destroyed bv
their own hogs. After the crop was laid by, all except two of the
company returned to Washington County, where John Sells, the
brother of Abraham, and the latter's son, Issac, died. Late in the
fall the others, with their families and household stuff, rejoined
their White River brethren, and the permanencv of their settlement
was maintained.
Abraham Sells may justly be accounted as the first English-
speaking white man to make a permanent home in White River
Township. Close upon his heels, came Thomas Lowe, a North
Carolinian, with his family and his two sons-in-law, Permenter
Mullenix and William Sanders, and their families. Sells entered
the township, as we have seen, on the third dav of of March, 1821,
and Lowe came "between the 3d and 10," a very few days after.
The latter settled on a choice tract of land in Section 8, about two
miles northeast of the Bluffs, and at once made preparation for
raising a corn crop, the ensuing season. About the middle of the
same month of March, David Scott moved from near Bloomington,
Ind., to White River Township, and camped just below the mouth of
Pleasant Run,f near Abraham Sells, and cleared and planted a
field of corn. His family he left behind, proposing to move them
out the coming fall. Late in the Summer, however, his horses es-
caped, and he became so much discouraged, that he sold out to
Sells, and abandoned the county.
On Wednesday, the 10th day of May, following, John Doty and
his family, from Hamilton County, Ohio, entered the township.
He had set out with his large family and all of his worldlv possess-
ions in search of a home "in the West," and entering the Whetzel
trace at its eastern terminus, had traveled upon it till within three
* Judge Franklin Harden. John Tipton mentions a similar circumstance as being seen
near the capital location.
t So named, it is said, because it was a pleasant running stream.
EARLY SETTLEMENTS.
303
miles of its western end at the Bluffs. Coming to a shapely, well-
wooded hill, then, as now, a landmark, along the northern side of
which the trace ran, he was so well pleased with the outlook that
he unyoked his cattle and made a camp, and "went to living."
The next morning after their arrival, he and his three sons,
Peter, Samuel, and George, began a clearing, and by hard work
they managed to plant three or four acres in corn, which, when
earing time came, fell a prey to the raccoons. It is said these ro-
dents came in droves, and stripped it of the last nubbin.
During the time the father and sons were making their clear-
ing, the family occupied an open camp and were greatly annoyed
bv rattle snakes. One morning while at breakfast, they were hor-
rified at the sight of a monster which came crawling in at the open
door of their camp. It had been attracted, it is supposed, by the
odor of frying venison. More than thirty of these venemous reptiles
were killed in and about the hill the first season. The next per-
sons to move in, were Daniel Boaz and John Ritchev. These men
with their families moved in one vehicle. Boaz was a Virginian, by
birth, and Ritchey a Kentuckian. They came to White River in the
fall of 1S21, and were the last of the arrivals for that A'ear. The
close of the year saw eight families living in the White River
settlement. Twelve more, it is certainly known, came the year
following, 1822. These were Archibald Glenn, and John Murphy,
from Kentucky; Nathan and Benjamin Culver, from East Tennes-
see; Nathanial St. John, from Ohio; Daniel Etter, Michael Brown,
Andrew Brown, and one or two others, who long since left the
county, from Virginia; and William and Samuel Blean, who were
born in Ireland. By the close of the second year, after the first
settlement was made, not less than 100 people were living in the
White River settlement.
Two settlement centers, the Blue River and the White River,
have been under review; let us pass to a third. In the spring of
1S21, Amos Durbin settled on the outskirts of the Blue River settle-
ment, so far from its center that when the civil townships came to
be organized, he was found to be in Nineveh Township, and he is
therefore entitled to the destinction of being named as the first
settler of Nineveh. The township derived its name from its prin-
cipal creek, and it in turn from the following circumstance: Rich-
ard Berry had a son, Nineveh, who, while hunting one winter's day,
crossed the creek, which was orginally known as the Leatherwood,
and killed a deer. With it on his back he undertook to recross the
stream on a log, but loosing his footing he fell in, and came near being
drowned. His father ever after spoke of the stream as "Nineveh's
3C>4 JOHNSON COUNTY.
Defeat," but the early settlers dropped the latter half of the name,
calling it Nineveh, and it is so known to this day.
But another man must be accredited with the honor of founding
the first distinctive Nineveh neighborhood. That man was Robert
Worl, of whom but little is now known. He was an Ohioan, who
set out for the New Purchase the latter part of the summer of
1S21. With his family and a few personal effects he floated down
the Ohio in a boat to some point on the Indiana shore, whence
he made his way over the Indian trails to the Blue River Settle-
ment, and thence through a pathless forest to Leatherwood Creek,
or as it is now known, the Nineveh, where he arrived sometime in
the month of September, and at once erected a pole cabin on the
bank of the creek, a mile east of the present site of Williamsburg.
Worl and his family lived alone through the fall and winter, de-
pending for food mainly on the rifle. The region round about
was filled with- game. W 7 ild turkeys, deer and bears were as
plentiful as domestic stock in the same neighborhood is to-dav.
Doubtless, the first fall and winter spent by the Worls in the
Nineveh woods, they found exceedingly long and dismally lone-
some; but the season of leaf and flower came at last, and with it
three neighbors. On Friday, the 15th of March, Joah Woodruff
and William Strain, came directly from Ohio, and Benjamin Crews,
who two years before moved to the Blue River neighborhood, and
settled over the line in Bartholomew Count\ . All three had
families, and had been Worl's neighbors in Ohio. That was a
busy spring on the Nineveh. Crews camped by the side of a log
for eight weeks, from the middle of March to the middle of May,
by which time he had nine acres cleared after the fashion of the
times, which he planted in corn, and then he built a cabin.
During the year of 1822, eleven men, with their families, are
known to have moved into the Township. In addition to those
already mentioned, were Adam Sash, Daniel and Henry Mussul-
man, and James Dunn from Kentucky, David Trout from Vir-
ginia, and John S. Miller from North Carolina.
The next year, James and William Gillaspv, William Spears,
Curtis Pritchard, Louis Pritchard and Richard Perry, Kentuckians;
and Jeremiah Dunham, an Ohioan, and Elijah De Hart, from North
Carolina, moved in. In 1824, Robert Moore and George Baily
Aaron Dunham, of Ohio, arrived, and Isaac Walker, Perry Baily,
Joseph Thompson and Robert Forsyth, all from Kentucky. In
1825, Daniel Pritchard, John Parkhurst, William Irving and Amos
Mitchel, from Kentucky, and Jesse Young, from Ohio, moved in,
and, in the year following, came Thomas Elliott, Prettyman Bur-
EARLY SETTLEMENTS. 305
ton, William Keaton, Clark Tucker, Daniel Hutto, John Hall, John
Elliot, all Kentuckians, and Thomas Griffith, Samuel Griffith,
Richard Wheeler, James McKane, James and John Wylie,
Ohioans. In 1827, of those who came, John Kindle, Aaron Bur-
gett and the Calvins — James, Luke, Thomas and Hiram — Milton
McQuade, John Dodd, Robert Works and, as is supposed, George
Henger and Jeremiah Ilibbs, are all believed to have been from
Ohio, and James Mullikin, David Forsyth and James Hughes,
from Kentucky. The next year Joseph Featherngill, Gabriel
Givens, Mrs. Sarah Mathes and James White came, followed by
Hume Sturgeon, in 1S29, and by Walter Black, David Dunham,
John Wilks and Aaron Burgett, in 1S30. Sturgeon was from
Kentucky, Mrs. Mathes from Virginia, and the others from Ohio,
save Black, whose native place is uncertain.
In the year 1822, the Burkhart brothers, David, Lewis, George,
Henry and William came to this county from Greene County, Ky.,
bv the way of the ancient river trail. Henry and George settled
on the north side, while David built his cabin within the borders of
Franklin Township on the land on which the late Michael Canary
so long lived, and ultimately died. All three built cabins on the
trail, and they have left their family name in Buckhart's Creek, in
their old neighborhood. About the time of the arrival of the Burk-
harts, came Levi Moore along the trail, from the south as far as
the Big Spring (now Hopewell), whence he turned to the east and
built a cabin on the high ground, a few hundred yards west of the
place where the Bluff road crosses Young's Creek. This cabin
site has never ceased to be a place of residence. It is now occu-
pied by John McCashin. Of Moore, but little is known. In the
summer of 1825, he built a cabin and log stable on the east side of,
and close to the line dividing the east and west halves of the south-
west quarter of Section 9, in Township 12, afterward owned and
occupied by Aaron LeGrange. Moore had entered the west half
of that quarter, and publicly gave out that he owned the east half,
but Adam Sash learning otherwise, entered that half, and the owner-
ship of Moore's cabin and stable thus fell to him.
On Young's Creek, which flowed through the west eighty, he
built a mill, but the site was inauspicious. At that point the creek
run between low banks through a wide valley, and he found it im-
possible to construct a dam that would withstand the freshets. His
log mill-house was built over the creek bed on piles driven into the
earth with a maul, and he put in machinery with which he could
grind " from ten to fifteen bushels of corn per day." Driven to
desperation by repeated washouts, he at last felled a large sycamore
tree top on his dam, hoping in this way to hold it down; but find-
306 JOHNSON COUNTY.
ing it a vain effort, after a year or two he abandoned the enterprise,
and soon after left the country and went, no one knew where. The
foundation logs of his mill, after sixty-three years, are still to be
seen, embedded in the Young's Creek mud, apparently as sound
as the day they were placed there.
Moore left a bad reputation behind him. He was charged with
over-tolling the grists that went to his mill, and, not content with
that, he caught a portion of the descending meal in his wide sleeyes
which he transferred to his own barrel, a trick not uncommon with
rascally millers of his day. It was laid to his charge also that he
stole his neighbors hogs, and scrupled not to rob the Indians, who
camped now and then in his vicinity. Certain, it is, that he and his
family were phenomenally untidy about their home. Under the
high porch of his cabin, his little flock of sheep were penned every
night, winter and summer, to keep them from the wolves, a pre-
caution that his pioneer neighbors could have excused perhaps, but
the ducks and geese that slept upon the porch and in the cabin it-
self, to keep them from their prowling enemies, the foxes, and
minks, the neighbors could not excuse. Moore could not build
cabins and mill houses and roll logs without calling upon his neigh-
bors for assistance, nor could thev assist without dining at his table.
But the memory of the combined odors of the sheep-pen, of the
goose and duck sleeping apartment, and of the Moore cookery, re-
mains to this day. It is said that a boiled egg was the only article
of food a man could eat at the Moore table without a qualm.
Nevertheless, Levi Moore left his name in a certain sense indelibly
impressed upon the county. Upon the little creek, that, taking its
rise a mile north of Franklin and flowing thence southwesterly till
it discharges into Young's Creek, not far from the site of his first
cabin, he gave the name of " Indian Creek," from the circumstance
that the Indians frequently encamped upon it in the early days, and
by that name it is still known. In another stream, Moore's Creek.
which unites with Young's Creek, near Hopewell, his name will be
held in perpetual remembrance, for it carries his name.
In the month of February. 1821, Elisha Adams, a Pennsvlvanian
by birth, but moving from Kentucky, and Joseph Young, a North
Carolinan, and Robert Gilchrist, from Washington County, Ind.,
came to the county. Young settled in the delta formed bv the
union of Sugar and Lick Creeks, while Adams moved farther
north, and built a cabin near the present site of Amity. Lick
Creek was so named bv the United States surveyors, because of
the great number of most excellent deer licks found near its
source. But Young's cabin soon came to be known better than
the licks, and the first settlers caring little for the name bestowed
EARLY SETTLEMENTS. 307
by the surveyors, changed Lick Creek into Young's Creek, and
time has sanctioned their act.
In the autumn succeeding Adams' arrival William Rutherford
moved on Sugar Creek in Section 33, less than two miles northeast
of Adams', and became the first settler in what is now known as
Needham Township.
About the time Rutherford was building his cabin, Adams'
horses strayed off, and while hunting for them in Bartholomew
County, he met with John Smiley of Washington County, who
said he was looking for a mill site. While hunting game, Adams
had more than once noticed a place on Sugar Creek in Section 34,
where he thought a mill could be advantageously built, and he not
Only acquainted Smiley with the fact, but gave him such a glowing
account of the country adjacent to the site, that Smiley came to see
for himself, the following summer. The place suiting him, he made
a purchase, and in the ensuing fall moved his family to the county,
and after erecting a cabin in which to live, began at once building
a mill, which was finished the same fall, and which was the first mill
in the county.
In October, 1S20, George King, Simon Covert, Samuel and
Cornelius Demarer, Peter A. Banta, William Porter, James and
Wallace Shannon and Prettyman Burton, all of whom were resi-
dents of Henry and Shelby counties in Kentucky, made a tour of
parts of Indiana, to "look at the country." Crossing the Ohio, a few
miles below Madison, they traveled eastwardly through Jefferson
and Switzerland counties, thence to Versailles, in Ripley, and
through Napoleon and on to the "Forks of Flat Rock." Shortly
after crossing the Ohio, William Hendricks joined them, but at the
"Forks" he turned aside to become the proprietor of the count}'
seat of Decatur Count}-. King and his company kept on till the}'
reached Connor's Prairie, where they took the back track on the
Indian trail till they came to the location of the seat of government,
where "four little cabins" were all there was of the future city.
Crossing the White River at that place, they visited Eagle Creek
and then White Cieek, after which they re-crossed the river at
Whetzel's. Riding up to the Bluffs, they followed Whetzel's trace
out to the Indian trail, where they saw Loper's unfinished cabin,
and thence they traveled southward past the Big Spring and Berry's
ford, and so on to their homes, having been absent seventeen days.
The following fall. King and Covert, who were brothers-in-law,
and William Shannon, a neighbor, returning to the state, made
another journey to examine the country. This time they went
direct to Indianapolis, passing through Johnson County, and at-
tended the first sale of lots in that new city. Crossing White River
20
J
OS JOHNSON COUNTY.
the same day, they rode to the neighborhood of Eagle Creek where
they camped. The next morning they set out in earnest for the
Wabash country and saw but one cabin from Tuesday morning
till the following Sunday evening. The journey was a disappoint-
ment to them. The country was not apparently as good as they
had been led to expect. " Good land was like the milk sick, still
ahead." They returned to their homes by the way of the Vermil-
ion River country.
After another year, King and Covert made a third trip to the
state. This time they were accompanied by Garrett C. Bergen,
and the purpose of their journey seems to have been to enter lands
in Johnson County. King, who was the leader in all these expe-
ditions, was of the age of forty years. His native place was
Wythe County, in Virginia, whence he had moved with a widowed
mother to Kentucky while a lad. where he had been apprenticed to
a wheelwright with whom he had learned the trade. He had the
knack of money getting, and having accumulated a small sum, he
was desirous of settling himself in a new country at such a place
as he would be enabled to control the location of a county town, on
lands he might himself own. On this third visit he saw his op-
portunity. On the 8th of January, 1S21, an act had been passed
organizing Bartholomew County, and on the 31st of December
following, bills to incorporate Morgan, Marion and Shelby counties
had been approved bv the Governor, leaving the territory lying
between, to be incorporated thereafter. The situation was patent
to every one, but King seems to have been the only one who was
able to take advantage of it. On reaching the Blue River settle-
ment he fell in with Samuel Herriott, whom he questioned concern-
ing a suitable town site in the neighborhood of the center of the
unorganized territory, and from him learned of what was supposed
to be a suitable tract lying in the angle formed bv the confluence
of Lick and Camp creeks. The land lookers went at once to it,
and after looking the land over and each selecting his tract, they
rode off to Brookville to make their entries. But when there they
learned that the unexpected thing had happened. Twenty-two
daws before, Daniel Pritchard had entered the very eighty that
King had marked as his own. But George King was not the man,
when once he had put his hand to the plough, to look back. He
purchased the eighty adjoining the Pritchard tract on the west,
while Bergen bought on the north and Covert on the east, as they
had originally intended, after which they returned to the neighbor-
hood of their purchases, and King rinding the owner of the coveted
eighty, paid him two hundred dollars for his bargain and took a
conveyance in fee. Covert and Bergen returned to their homes,
EARLY SETTLEMENTS. 3O9
but King remained. Securing names to a petition to the Legisla-
ture, praying for the organization of the territory lying between
Morgan and Shelby into a county, he went by the way of Corydon,
then the capital of the State, and procured the passage of an act
organizing the new county, which receiving the signature of the
Governor, became a law on the 31st of December, 1S22, and the
county was named Johnson, in memory of John Johnson, one of
the Judges of the Supreme Court of the State.
John Smiley, the miller, was appointed by Governor Hendricks,
sheriff of the county, and in accordance with the law, issued a writ
of election to be holden on Saturday, the Sth day of March, 1S23.
Two voting places were named, one at the house of Hezekiah
Davison, on Blue River, and the other at the home of Daniel Boaz,
on White River. Israel Watts and Daniel Boaz, were elected
associate judges; Samuel Herriott, clerk of the circuit court;
William Shaffer, county recorder; and William Freeman, John S.
Miller and James Ritchey, commissioners, and a county govern-
ment was thereupon duly organized.
Here let us pause in our story and take a look backward. Up
to the close of the year, 1S22, there were three centers of settle-
ment in the county, Blue River, Nineveh and White River, the
first of which contained fifty-nine families, the second twenty and
the third fourteen. There were a few cabins scattered here and
there throughout the county, outside of these settlements as we
have seen, enough by actual court to bring the whole number up
to an even 100, which according to the usual method of computa-
tion in such cases, gives a population of 500.*
All these original settlers were poor men. It is hard for the
people of this more favored age to form a clear conception of the
depth of their poverty. The greater part were land owners, it is
true, but unimproved land was selling at " Congress price," and a
cabin and five or six acres of cleared land added from fifty to
seventy-rive dollars to that price. The number of acres of cleared
land contiguous to the 100 cabins in the county did not exceed
500. Probably there were as many horses in the county as heads
of families, and three times as many cattle. Hogs were becoming
numerous, in a few localities, but were worth little more than so
many wild deer. All the furniture in the 100 cabins did not cost
as much as the furniture to be found in a single one of a good
man}- houses in the count}' to-day. It is hard to estimate aggre-
gate values in the absence of the assessor, but it is believed that
In my History of Johnson County, published in iSSi, by a printer's mistake the num-
ber is put at 550. It was written 500. I inadvertently repeated the mistake in " Making
a Neighborhood."
3IO JOHNSON" COUNTY.
excluding land values, an assessor on the first day of January, 1823,
could not have found over $5,000 or $6,000 worth of property in
the whole county.
Returning from this digression, we find that George King, hav-
ing secured the county organization, early in the following spring
(1823), moved to his purchase, that he might be on the ground
when the time for locating the county seat came round. It was in
the latter part of February or first of March, that accompanied by
his two unmarried daughters and his married daughter and her
husband, David McCaslin, and Simon Covert, whose wife staid be-
hind until the ensuing fall, and Isaac Yoorheis, a young and un-
married man. King left his Kentucky home and came to Johnson
Count}-. The movers found a road cut out to Elisha Adams' place,
and thence on, assisted by Robert Gilchrist,* they made their own
road up the east bank of Young's Creek to the mouth of Camp
Creek."
It was late in the day when the axemen followed bv the teams
and cattle reached the creek, where they found a dark and turbu-
lent stream rolling between them and their destination. Not
knowing the fords the teams were driven back to a high dry knoll
where a camp fire was started and a camp made. Little did the
campers on that knoll, as they watched bv the light and warmth of
their camp fire that night, dream that they would live to see the
day when that knoll would become the site of a college devoted to
" Christianity and Culture." f
Hardly were the teams unhitched that evening, when it was
discovered that the meal and sieve had been left at Adam's, where-
upon King and Gilchrist and McCaslin returned, leaving Covert
and Voorheis to occupy the camp alone. Other things it seems
had been left behind, also, for the campers milked into and drank
milk out of the bells, which had been brought for use in the range.
The next morning on the return of King and McCaslin the pilgrims
sought for and found a place to safely cross the " swollen stream." A
beautiful tract of high and dry land on the north bank of Young's
Creek, which has since been graded down and is now occupied by
the residence of Judge Woollen and of others, was their objective
point, but such a network of down logs overgrown with spice wood
and other bushes all woven together, with wild grape vines, not to
mention a forest of beeches, maples, hackberries, sycamores and
buckeyes, did they encounter that the whole day was consumed in
reaching their destination. The writer has repeatedly talked with
" In the early records this name is spelled Gilcrees. The family have since changed the
spelling as in the text.
t This is the motto placed on the seal of Franklin College.
EARLY SETTLEMENTS. 311
three of the men who cut the first road through what is now known
as the Old Bear Plat of the city of Franklin and also with others
who saw the place before the town site was cleared off and all
agreed in pronouncing it the most impenetrable thicket in all the
cduntry round about. A hurricane not many years before had
passed down Young's Creek and up Camp (now Hurricane), leav-
ing a wide swath of fallen timber in its wake and it was through
this the road was made that day.
In the evening, wearied and hungry, the emigrants reached the
hitrh around King had selected for his cabin site. A tent was
erected and a hasty camp made. The meal bag and the seive,
having been brought up from Adams', a supper of corn cake and
bacon was enjoyed. Tin cups took the place of cow bells for
drinking vessels. At an early hour the men lay down on a browse
bed before a glowing camp fire, under cover of a tent to sleep.
Thev were too tired to talk and soon were in the land of dreams.
During the night, however, a tempest of rain, accompanied by
thunder and lightning and wind arose, and such commotion ensued
in the forest around them that they felt their lives were in peril.
At intervals the crashing of falling trees could be heard, and be-
fore the blast had expended its force a large tree, close by, was
wrenched from its roots and fell thundering to the earth, but hap-
pily in a direction from them. More than fifty years afterwards
Col. Simeon Covert, speaking of that falling tree, said: " It shocked
us greatly," and sure it must, as it crashed to the earth amid the
blackness of night, in a tempest-tossed forest. The next morning
work was begun on King's cabin, a two-roomed structure with an
entry between, which served as a house for all, till the little fields were
cleared and the crops laid by. That cabin stood on the highest
part of the knoll which has since been cut down, crosswise of the
present line of Jefferson street. The next step taken was to make
clearings for corn. Covert's patch was amid the fallen timber in
the track of the old hurricane. Over three acres he grubbed,
chopped and burned, clearing after a fashion, and planting on the
30th of May. At the end of seventeen days he laid his corn by,
and the following fall gathered at the rate of fifty bushels to the
acre, of good corn. The particulars of King's and McCaslin's
planting has not been remembered.
In the latter part of September, Simon Covert, having returned
during the summer to Kentucky, moved his family to his new
home. Quite a company accompanied him. John B. Smock, and
his brother Isaac, who settled at Greenwood, and Daniel Covert,
Moses Freeman and Joseph Voorheis, who subsequently settled on
Young's Creek, in what was afterward known as the Hopewell
312 JOHNSON COUNTY.
neighborhood, were of the company. About the time Cover set
out for Kentuucky after his family. Thomas Williams, a Pennsyl-
vanian by birth, but hailing from "Washington County, in this state,
came to the neighborhood, and began the erection of a cabin on the
south side of the creek: and in the same month Covert returned,
Williams moved his family and goods into his new home. He
brought with him the first yoke of oxen that ever came to Franklin.
Five commissioners had been named, in the act of organizing
the county, whose duty it was to meet on the first Monday in May,
1 82 3, and select a town site for the new county. For some reason
the meeting was deferred, till the 22nd of the month, at which
time three of the five met at the house of John Smilev, on Sugar
Creek, whence they proceeded to discharge that dutv. " A paper
village" had been laid out by Amos Durbin, near the mouth of Sugar
Creek, the site of which the three commissioners went to see. On
the northeast quarter of Section S, in Township 13 north, Range 4
east, which lay a half mile from the geographical center of the
county, was the highest, dryest and best drained tract of land to be
found short of the Sugar Creek or White River highlands — a
tract on which was an elevation, now known as Donnell's Hill, and
there were some who thought the commissioners might make the
location in that place. George King, sharing in that thought, had
already entered the quarter section, but it is quite evident he pre-
ferred the location to be made on his Pritchard purchase. While at
his house, and after examining the proposed site in the angle of the
creeks, the commissioners inquired about the country at the center
of the county, and even set out through the pathless woods to ex-
amine the place for themselves. But, for some reason, they went
without a guide, and in a violent rain storm, that came up while
they were on the journey, they lost their way, and finally, came
back to King's cabin, without having seen the hill, whereupon, they
at once proceeded to locate the town on the southwest quarter of
the southeast quarter of Section 13, Township 12 north, Range 4
east, which forty acre tract King donated to the county, together
with eleven acres lving between it and Youngs Creek. It was
made the duty of the locating committee to report their action to
the county commissioners, and this being done, Samuel Herriott
suggested that the new town be called Franklin, and it was so done.
In the following August* Franklin was surveyed, and on Sat-
urday, the 2nd of September, the first sale of lots took place. John
'There is no written evidence of the dale. Of two men who remembered the circum-
stances, one said it was in August, and another September. In my history of Johnson
County, published in 1881, I adopted the latter date, but the fact that the sale of lots toolc"
place on the second of September, of which there is written evidence, excludes that month.
EARLY SETTLEMENTS. 313
Campbell, of Sugar Creek, who had been appointed county agent,
superintended the sales, and to encourage bidding he laid in a sup-
ply of whisky, with which to treat the thirsty crowd. The record
shows that he presented a claim for whisky and paper of " Si.i8? 4 ,"
and George Adams, who was present, and still survives, remembers
that "there was plenty of whisky on hand." This was not the
first whisky which had been at the new county seat. The sur-
veyor, who ran the town lines, was drunk at the time, and the
bend in Madison street remains a silent witness of that fact, to this
day. Nor was it the last. In 1S26, a further allowance was made
to the agent of $2.61^, for " whisky and paper." At the time of
the first sale of lots, the town site was covered with trees, logs,
bushes and vines. The bush had been cut out enough to mark
the lines, but it was several years before the streets and public
square were entirely clear of bushes and logs. In the fall of
1824, when Daniel Covert made his second visit to view the coun-
try, the town site was yet uncleaned. During that year, however,
improvements were begun. A man by the name of Kelly, from
Jennings County, built a cabin on the west side of the square, and
under the pretence of keeping a bakery, sold beer and cakes. In
the same year of 1824, a log court house was erected on lot num-
ber 22, the site now occupied as a dwelling place by Christian Axt.
William Shaffer, the county recorder, who was a carpenter by
trade, had the contract for building the court house, and no sooner
was that contract off his hands, than he erected a dwelling for
himself on the southeast corner of the square. While he was at
that work, John Smiley, the sheriff, built a log house on the north-
west corner of Main and Jefferson streets, and about the same
time a log cabin was erected on the lot west of Smiley's house, in
which Daniel Taylor, hailing from Cincinnati, opened the first store
in the new town.
In that year of 1824, or the following, Edward Springer built a
cabin in the west side close to Kelly's and opened a smithy. In
1S25, Joseph Young and Samuel Herriott erected the first frame
building in the town which adjoined Shaffer's home on the north,
and in which they conducted a general store and tavern business. 1/
The town developed slowly. The brush and logs and trees were
still in the public square and the roads wound in and out among
the trees and around the largest logs. Fire wood was convenient,
and as late as 1S28, when John Tracy came to the county, he
found the town "still full of logs. The trees had been cut
down and the tops used for firewood." The brush was grubbed
in the public square by Nicholas Shaffer, who was paid for the
work out of the count}- treasury, $6.58. Preparing the logs for
314 JOHNSON COUNTY.
rolling, and rolling and burning, seems to have been done volun-
tarily by the citizens, but they evidently made a long job of it. In
the fall of 1826, Daniel Covert helped roll logs on the public square.
The late John Herriott said: "I came here in May, 1827, and helped
to cut the brush out of the public square. We met every evening
for two or three weeks to burn logs and brush.* " After the logs
were ready for rolling," said the late Jefferson D. Jones, " the citi-
zens would meet about sundown and roll a few heaps." In 1828,
the work was still going on. " All the trees were down in the pub-
lic square" when John Tracy came in that year, "but a good many
were still on the ground." "When these were rolled and burned,
the historian has been unable to learn. There are so/ne secrets
sealed even to him.
In 1826, one John Williams put up a saw-mill, which was pro-
pelled by oxen on a tramp-wheel; but it seems to have been a
failure. Among the early settlers was John K. Powell, a hatter.
It is remembered that for want of better material, he made his
" sizing " of wheat flour, and that his hats in consequence had the
infirmity of melting in rainy weather and of breaking in dry.
Caleb Vannoy started a tan yard, in those early days, and Pierson
Murphey and James Pitchey came as physicians and Fabrius M.
Fuch and Gilderoy Hicks, as lawyers and Samuel Headly and
Samuel Lambertson, as tailors. Others remembered were : Robert
Gilchrist, Hezekiah McKinney, Harvey Sloan, Eli Gilchrist, James
Frary, Simon Moore, Jesse Williams, John High, the Joneses and
others.
The country around Franklin was settled slowly. One of the
first to move in was John Harter, who settled on Young's Creek,
about a mile below town, where he built a mill. He bought his
mill irons of John Smiley, for which he agreed to pay in corn, two
bushels to be due every other week, until the irons were paid for.
The late Jefferson D. Jones, used to tell that Harter had no bacon and
he no meal, and that by agreement, he took a half bushel of meal
every other week from" the mill, for which he left with the miller, its
worth in bacon.
In 1825, Simon Covert and George King made an exchange of
lands whereby the former became invested with title to King's 160
acres at the center of the county, to which he at once cut out a road
and moved. Shortly after, Thomas Henderson,^ from Kentucky,
located the quarter section containing the Big Spring, and made
preparation to move to it. A large immigration soon followed, of
Presbyterians, all of whom were from Henry, Shelby and 'Mercer
counties, in Kentucky. Most of them were related, and all were
'History Presbyterian Church of Franklin, 1S74, p. 196.
EARLY SETTLEMENTS. 315
descendents of Dutch or French families, that had settled in or
around New Amsterdam (New York), during' the seventeenth
century. Among those who moved to the Hopewell neighborhood,
as it has since been called, during the early years of its history,
may be mentioned, Moses Freeman, Daniel, John and Cornelius
Covert, brothers of Simon; Joseph Voorheis and Isaac, the latter
of whom came to the country as we have seen, with George King;
Isaac Vannice and Samuel Vaunuvs, Stephen Luyster, David Banta,
Peter LeGrange and his sons, Peter D. and Aaron; John Voris,
Simon Yanarsdall, Zachariah Ramsdall, Melvin Wheat, William
Magill, John P. Banta, John Bergen, Peter Demaree, Andrew Car-
nine, Theodore List, Stephen Whitenack, Peter Banta, Henry Van-
nice, Peter Shuck, John Davis, Simon Vanarsdall, Joseph Combs
and Thomas Roberts. On the south and west sides and south-
west corner of the township, we find that Thomas Mitchel,
Michael Canary, Dr. Robert McAuley, Jacob Demaree, Henry
Byers and Ebenezer Perry, John Brunk and Joseph Hunt moved in
quite early, and passing up the south side are the names of Major
Townsend, John D. Mitchell, John Gratner, Joseph Ashley, John
Harter, Alexander McCaslin, John C. Goodman, John Gibben and
Jonathan Williams. In the central and northern parts were Will-
iam Magill, Garrett C. Bergen, Peter A. Banta, Milton Utter,
Henry, James, John and William Whitesides, Stephen and Lem-
uel Tilson, Thomas J. Mitchel, John Brown, Elisha Dungan, Ed-
ward Crow, David McCaslin, Harvey McCaslin, Robert Jeffrey,
John Herriott, Middleton Waldren, Travis Burnett, David Berry,
Samuel Overstreet, John Wilson, David, Thomas and George Al-
exander, and William and Samuel Alison.
Needham Township was originally part of Franklin Township,
and was settled as such. The first settlement made within its bor-
ders is generally accredited to William Rutherford, who built his
cabin in the fall of 1S21, a short distance below the place where
Smiley built his mill. The same year John Ogle settled within
Johnson County, near the present site of the mill now owned by
William Clark, Esq., where he himself built the first mill on the
site about 1826. In 1822, John Smilev, as we have seen, moved to
his place on the creek. The next year, the same in which King
and Covert and McCaslin began the settlement at Franklin, John
Mozingo, Squire and Lewis Hendricks, Abner Taylor, and William
D. Smith, moved in. Afterward, in quick succession came Landron
Hendricks, Jacob Fisher, Thomas Needham, Samuel Owens, Will-
iam and Isaac Garrison, Jacob Wiles, James Tetrick, Jacob Bowers,
and Jesse Beard.
In October, 1S20, George King and a number of others as we
316 JOHNSON COUNTY.
have seen, made a tour through Central Indiana, during which tour
the_v passed the crossing of Whetzel's trace and the old Indian
trail, where they discovered a little cabin, newly built and with the
roof partly on. It had never been occupied, but as the travelers
rode by they noticed a wagon containing movers close at hand, com-
ing through the woods, from the east, and they surmised that the
movers were coming to the cabin. This is the first that is known
of the cabin, at that crossing, and whether the movers then seen by
King and his companions, took possession or not, it was Daniel Loper's
cabin, and he moved into it about that time. He was distinguished
for being the first white man to make a settlement in two townships
of Johnson Count}' — Pleasant and Clark — and yet of him very
little is certainly known. No one knows whence he came nor
whither he went. He seems to have been a genuine backwoods-
man, a lover of the forest solitudes, and gave his confidence to no
one. With him came a man by the name of John Varner, who
was reputed to be of somewhat feeble intellect, and was his depen-
dent and henchman. Loper owned a wagon and a yoke of oxen,
with which Varner is known to have made several trips to the
White Water country with the fruits of the chase which he ex-
changed for provisions and whisky.
But Loper did not remain long at the crossing. The following
year, Nathaniel Bell, from Ohio, traveled the Whetzel trace in
search of a home. " He rode on horseback with a sack under
him, in which he carried his provisions. His horse carried a bell
around his neck, which was kept silent by day, but when night
came Bell made a camp, unloosed the bell, hobbled the horse,
turned him out to graze, and then lav down to sleep. Bell having
explored the Eel River lands, and not liking them, returned and called
at the cabin of John Doty. * * Here he disclosed his purpose,
and that was to get a description of the land at the crossing of the
traces and enter it at Brookville, on his way home, and then settle
there anil keep a tavern and build a house, mill and a distillery for
whisky. Applying to Peter Doty, son of John Doty, for aid in
getting a description of the land, Peter agreed to furnish it for $1,
but Bell declared he had no money beyond the sum necessary to
enter the land. Finally, Peter agreed to accept the bell on the
horse and the desired information Was thus obtained." *
In December, 1821, Bell entered Loper out, and the latter
seems to have moved shortly after, to Whetzel"s old camp, on Camp
Creek, where he put up a cabin and thus became the first settler
of Clark Township. Sometime after his removal to that place,
John Varner died of a sudden illness, and was buried in a walnut
* Judge Hardin.
EARLY SETTLEMENTS. 3 I 7
trough, covered with a slab, by Loper, with the assistance of the
Dotys, a mode of burial not unfrequently adopted by the Indians.
When they reached the place of the funeral, they found Loper
digging a grave with a garden hoe and throwing the dirt out with
his hands. A belief prevailed among some of the early settlers
that Loper had been instrumental in the death of Varner, which was,
no doubt, groundless. Soon after his death, Loper left the country,
and his going was as mysterious as his coming had been. No one
knew when he went nor to what place. Jacob Fisher, who saw
his place in 1S25, says: "It looked like it had been deserted two
or three years." He was a thriftless, and doubtless a harmless
frontiersman, who was mean-spirited enough to flee from a rumor,
however groundless it may have been, rather than stay and fight
it. After Loper left, his place continued to be a camping-ground
for movers, but it ultimately gained the reputation of being haunted
by a ghost. Old John Varner's spirit was believed in some
quarters to rest uneasily in its walnut coffin. On one occasion, it
is said, a company of movers were aroused in the dead hour of
night by a mysterious appearance, and horror stricken they hitched
up their teams and fled in hot haste, not halting until they reached
John Dotv's, at the hill.
If Lope^r was shiftless, Bell was worse. Loper courted the soli-
tudes and meddled with no one; Bell loved company and that of the
worst. He courted the patronage of land-lookers, and other trav-
elers, but it was told of him and generally believed, that he or his
confederates extorted money from his guests, by secreting their
horses in the woods and demanding rewards for their return: and in
consequence his cabin soon ceased to be a stopping place. Judge
Hardin, in his account of a journey, made by himself and mother,
through Johnson County in 1825, says: " Bell's location * *
was renowned for a hundred miles away in every direction, and
was a prominent point in all the travels of the pioneers in the New
Purchase." At an early day he built a mill at the crossing which
for a few years served to furnish an occasional sack of meal to the
settlers. Judge Hardin who saw the mill, thus graphically describes
it. " It was a strange piece of machinerv, and when in motion pro-
duced unearthly sounds in its rattlings and creakings and rumblings.
The hoop inclosing the runner was a section of a hollow log, sitting
loosely over and around the grinder, to prevent the escape of the
meal. When the team made a sudden movement, the revolving
momentum often communicated to the enclosed hoop, and it, too,
was thrown into a sudden circular motion. The strange drummings
so frightened the horses, that they increased their gait beyond con-
trol, and the increased whirl of the grinder overcame its gravity
.1
iS - JOHNSON COUNTY.
and caused it'to take a tangential leap from above down among the
horses and men. His mill was never profitable."
It was current report that Bell so managed matters at his mill
as to steal more of the grist in corn or meal, or both, than he took
bv lawful toll. He wore the sleeves of his " warmus" or hunting
shirt unusually large, in which he not only managed to pick up a
few extra grains while tolling the grist, but on the pretense of ex-
amining the meal, as it came from the spout, he caught in his large
open sleeves, a tolerable share of the meal as it poured to the chest
below, after which folding his arms about him, he would saunter off
to his own chest or cabin and unload. Sometimes his victims would
remonstrate with him, but his usual reply was, " Well the little old
man must live." On one occasion, it is said, his sleeves being well
gorged with meal, the horses became frightened and ran off,
knocking the mill-stones from their frail scaffolding to the ground
below. Bell received a blow that knocked him down and scattered
the meal, stored in his ample sleeves, in every direction. He was
not seriously hurt, but he was badly scared and promised to do
better in the future, a promise he soon forgot.
In addition to Bell's other misdeeds, he was accused of harbor-
ing horse thieves, and of being a hog thief himself. At a log roll-
ing, Permenter Mullenix and he got into a quarrel, and the latter
charged him outright with the crime of hog stealing. This was
more than " the little old man " could stand, and so he went to
Indianapolis and employed Judge Wick and Calvin Fletcher to
prosecute Mullenix for slander. The action was begun, but Mul-
lenix defended on the ground the charge was true, and making
proof of the fact, to the satisfaction of the jury, had judgment for
his costs. The case then went before the grand jury, the re-
sult of which was, Bell was indicted, tried and sent to the peniten-
tiarv. After serving his term he returned to his home, but soon
after he abandoned the county, and his confederates were sent to
the state's prison, or followed him. His place "became one of
the most lonely and desolate places in the county, being overgrown
by briers and brush, and deserted."
When Simon Covert moved his family to Franklin, in Septem-
ber, 1S23, John B. Smock, and Isaac, his brother, from Mercer
Countv. Kv., came with their families, and household goods also.
Thev were destined to the neighborhood of the after site of Green-
wood — a neighborhood soon to be known as the Smock neighbor-
hood. Between Franklin and their destination, a pathless woods
lav. and thev were two days " bushing " a way to it. During the
following year, 1S24, the state road leading from Madison to
Indianapolis was cut out, over which the same year, James Smock,
EARLY SETTLEMENTS.
319
a brother, came to join them. In 1825, one over an even half a
dozen of families joined them, viz. : Garrett Brewer's, Garrett Van-
diver's, Garrett Sorter's, Robert Lyon's, and Joseph and John and
Samuel Alexander's — all Kentuckians, from Mercer County.
The Smock settlement was a half-way place between Franklin and
Indianapolis, and from this may be accounted the fact of its com-
paratively slow growth, for many years. Up to about 1830, it ap-
pears that the number moving in was quite small. In addition to
those already mentioned, may be named John Comingore, who
came, in 1826, Cornelius Smock, in 1827, Alexander Wilson, in 1828,
and Isaac Voris, in 1829.
In 1824, the state road was cut out, and notwithstanding the
country in the center and south side of the township was inclined
to be wet, settlers shortly began making entries of land, and, in
1828, David Trout, and a little later in the year, James Tracy and
his grown sons, Nathaniel, Thomas and John, William Pierce and
James Chenoweth built cabins and started clearings extending from
the center of the townships outhward. All these men — excepting the
Alexanders, who were.Pennsylvanians, and David Trout, who was
a Virginian, had moved from Nineveh — were Kentuckians.
On the fourth day of May, 1S29, Pleasant Township was created
by striking off from White River all the territory east of the range
line, making the west boundary the same as it now is; but, up to
1838, Clark Township formed a part of Pleasant. Elections were
ordered to be held at the house of Isaac Smock, and Isaiah Lewis
was appointed inspector. The township took its name from its
principal stream, Pleasant Run. Two explanations have been
given, accounting for the name of the creek, one of which is, that
when the country was first settled the stream was a gently flowing,
pleasant running stream; and the other that it was the reverse of
this, and the name was given by the way of irony.
Here, as everywhere else, it is difficult to fix upon the years
when men moved in, but it is certain that an impetus was now given
to immigration into the township. By mid-summer of 1834, the
following persons are known to have moved into and about the
Smock neighborhood, to wit: the Comingores, Henry and Samuel,
the McColloughs, John Lyons, Peter Whitenack, Samuel Eccles,
the Henrys, Robert, Hiram and Samuel, J. D. and William Wilson,
John and James Carson, Dr. William Woods, William McGee and
sons, William and Joseph Brenton, Marine D. West, Berryman
Carder, and the Todds. All these were from Kentucky, except the
v Henrys, from Virginia, the Wilsons who were from North Caro-
lina, the Woods, the McCulloughs and the Carsons, who were from
Tennessee. Lower down in the Tracy and Trout neighborhoods,
320 JOHNSON COUNTY.
Thomas Gant, the Hills, Littleton, Joseph, Squire and Charles,
James Stewart, David Lemmasters, Reuben Davis, William Mc-
Clelland, Daniel, David and John Brewer, Robert Smith, Abraham
Sharp, and probably others, moved in, while over toward the south-
east corner and east side came in Thomas Graham and his three
sons, Samuel, James and Archibald, and also Lewis Graham, Isaac
Clam and Andrew McCaslin, followed soon after by Ashford Dow-
den. Abraham Banta, Solomon Steele, Jacob Peggs and others.
Bv the close of 1834, persons were located all over the township,
but it could not be said to be fairly inhabited before 1840.
In 1S21, Daniel Loper having been " entered out" by Nathaniel
Bell, moved eastward on the "trace" to Whetzel's old camp on
Camp Creek, where he made the first permanent home in what is
now known as Clark Township. Shortly after. John Ogle moved into
the northeast corner of what is now known as Needham Township
(some sav in the same year, but others in the year after), and, at
the same time, his brother Levi, moved into the southeast corner of
Clark. In 1822, a settlement was made on the east side of Sugar
Creek, in Shelby County, by Joseph Reese, John Webb, and some
others, and, attracted by this settlement, a few more came quite
early into Clark Township, as also into Needham. In 1822, Will-
iam and John MeConnell came to the neighborhood, and it ma}' be
that the Ogles came the same vear.
It is extremely difficult, at this time, to ascertain with any de-
gree of certainty, the dates of arrival of the first and subsequent set-
tlers, but next after Loper's cabin, and the Sugar Creek settlement,
pioneers began moving upon the highlands in the north. The
first one to go in was Hugh McFadden, and the second, Glen
Clark. Both were here in 1S25, and the probability is that both
came that year. In 1826, there moved into the settlement thus be-
gun, John L. McClain and Alexander Clark, from Kentucky, and
three Hosiers, Robert, Jacob and Abraham. The next vear,
James and Moses McClain, and Robert Ritchey came in from Ken-
tucky, and Moses Rains from Virginia. The vear after, Jacob
McClain, from Kentucky, and the vear after that, Thomas Clark
and Thomas Robinson, Kentuckians, and Edward Wilson and
Samuel Billingsly, North Carolinians. In 1832, David Justice,
Abraham Jones, Matthias Parr and James Kinnick, from North
Corolina; and, in 1S33, Andrew Wolf, George Wolf, Tennesseeans,
and all those mentioned above, save the few Sugar Creek settlers,
and David Parr and John Fitzpatrick went into the neighborhood
of Loper's old cabin. In 1S34, there was quite an influx of immi-
grants: Allen Williams, John Tinkle, Robert Farnsworth, David
Farnsworth, Henry Farnsworth, Aaron Huffman and Daniel Mc-
EARLY SETTLEMENTS. 3 21
Lean, Tennessecans, and Henry White, Ellis White, Joseph Hamil-
ton, Henry Grayson and Taylor Ballard, Kentuckians, and Charles
Dungan, a Virginian; John Eastburn, a North Carolinian, and Oliver
Harbert, born in Dearborn County, Ind., moved to the township in
1S34. Clark Township was now filling- up quite fast. The follow-
ing persons are believed to have moved in during the year 1835, to
wit: Joseph Hamilton, Theodore Vandyke, John Wheatly, Lyman
Spencer, Parker Spencer, Caleb Davidson, Conrad McClain,
Thomas Portlock and Samuel McClain; and James Williams,
David McGauhey, John Harbert and James White, followed the
next year, while James Magill, David McAlpin and Jacob Halfaker
came in 1S37.
Let us now go from the northeast corner of the county, to the
southwest, and note the progress of settlement there. In the
month of September, 1823, two young men, David and Alexander
Stevens, sons of John Stevens, living in Jackson County, came to
the Nineveh settlement to view the country. The best lands
having been taken up in that neighborhood, Curtis Pritchard and
William Spears went with them to look at the Indian Creek coun-
try in the next Congressional township on the west. It was on the
1 2 th of September when the brothers and their guides reached the
desired place. The latter had hunted game on Indian Creek, and
had observed several choice locations. They struck the South
Fork, or near the place where the Martinsville road now crosses,
and (roin£ down that, not far from the confluence of the North and
South forks, they encountered a man with a deer on his back who
had a camp on a mound on the south side of the creek. His
name was John Davis, and accepting his hospitality, they staid with
him that night. He was living in a pole cabin about twelve feet
square, with the fire place on the ground in the center, with a hole
through the puncheon roof for the smoke to escape. Over the
door was hung a bear skin, and bear and wolf and deer skins
made the bed around the fire on which Davis and his guests and
his two big dogs slept that night. Before retiring, the guests
parcook of an ash pone and of a wild turkey, which the woods-
man hung before the fire over a broken pot lid to catch the
dripping gravy, with which he basted the roasting fowl, using
for that purpose a wooden spoon.
Davis was a hunter and trapper, who said he had come to the
county from Clark County, in 1822. One William Horton, had come
with him, and for a time they had camped together, but a disagree-
ment arising, Horton had moved by himself and was living in a hut
a half mile southward. Davis seems to have been quite a suc-
cessful hunter and trapper, while Horton was less so. During the
322 JOHNSON COUNTY.
winter of 1S22 and 1824, it is remembered that the former trapped
six beavers on Indian Creek, and killed five bears. The raccoons,
muskrats and grey foxes taken, is not known. On one occasion
he caught three wolves in a pen at one time. The following sum-
mer he married Polly Elkins, and continued to reside in the neigh-
borhood till 1827, when he moved away. Horton left the country
shortly after the visit of the Stevenses.
The next morning after the night of the feast, John Davis went
with his guests, and showed them the lands on which John Stevens
and Richardson Henslev and their families. were so soon to make
settlement; and then the bovs returned home.. Richardson Hens-
lev, John Stevens' neighbor, shortly before the return of the two
young men, had sold his farm and proposed returning to Kentucky,
but thev gave such a glowing report of the country they had seen,
that both Stevens and he determined to move to it. Accordingly,
on Wednesday, the 23rd of September, Henslev, with his family,
and his two sons-in-law, William Davenport and Ambrose, his
brother, and William Mitchell and their families, and John Stevens
and his two sons, Alexander and Gideon, and a boy he had brought
up, Ephraim Harrell, set out for the new country. The movers
came in three wagons, Henslev and Stevens had one each drawn
bv three yoke of oxen, and Davenport and Mitchell joined in one
drawn by one yoke of oxen and one pair of horses. Forty head of
cattle and 100 hogs and a flock of sheep accompanied them.
They were rive days on the road to the Nineveh, and four thence
to the final stopping, a distance less than seven miles in a straight
course. They had to cut a road every foot of that four days' travel.
John Stevens and Richardson Henslev went before and chose the
way, while William Mitchell, William Davenport and Alexander
Stevens followed with their axes, and made a path for the wagons.
On the evening of the third day they camped by a dead poplar
tree, which caught lire during the night. The next morning, Fri-
day, October 3, the journey was resumed, and at five o'clock that
evening, they camped on a " black haw bush knoll " a half mile
from what was soon to be known as Hensley"s Spring. As the
night closed in they looked back in the direction they had come,
and were startled to see, barely two miles away, the flames blazing
\ in the top of the poplar the}' had left burning that morning. The
~~^next morning the pioneers selected their respective tracts of land,
and Henslev " without saying a word,"' cut down a straight sugar
tree, measured off sixteen feet, cut it off, saving, " I've got the first
cabin log cut." Cabins were erected as soon as could be, and were
covered with lin bark. John Stevens returned to his family in Jack-
son County in about three weeks, leaving his son, Alexander, and
EARLY SETTLEMENTS. 323
his foster son, Ephraim Harrell, who remained during- the winter,
taking care of the cattle and hogs. Early the next spring they re-
turned to their father's home, and assisted him to make the final
move, landing at their new home on Indian Creek, on Tuesday, the
6th day of April. 1824.
The work of clearing the land was begun as soon as the men
could get at it. Bv the time for planting in the spring, Hensley had
six acres cleared for corn and four acres for an orchard; each
of his sons-in-law about three acres, and Stevens seven acres.
The wild turkeys annoyed them by scratching up their coin
as soon as it was planted. The squirrels followed the turkeys,
and by the time for harvesting, the crop was nearly destroyed.
Hensley sowed his orchard in turnips, and raised an immense
crop — about 500 bushels, on which he wintered his cattle. In
the following fall (1824), William Holman, Isaac Holman, Ar-
thur Bass and Nathaniel Elkins moved to the township. Dur-
ing the ensuing winter, William Chase arrived, and the next
season Peter Titus, and Charles and Mitchel Ross and Richard
Perry. Following soon after came Henrv Mussulman, Albert
Roberts, John Schrem, John and Lewis Shouse and Aaron Hol-
man : and at intervals during the years intervening between 1826
and 1S33. James Taggart (who was afterward killed at the battle
of Buena Vista), William Skaggs, Holland Jones, John Brunk,
Nicholas Hobbs, Hiram Porter, Reason and John Slack, John
Voris, Simpson Sturgeon, Montgomery Smith, Andrew Under-
wood, Leonard Lefller, John McNutt, William Mitchell, Thomas
Lyman. S. W. Weddle, Thomas Lockhart, Thomas Alexander,
John Clark, Jesse Wells, Samuel Fleener, Hiram T. Craig, John
Boland, Samuel Woollard, Frederick Ragsdale, George Bridges,
William Clark, Abraham Masse v, McKinnev Burk, Averv M.
Buckner, Levi Petro, James Wiley, Elijah Moore, Stith Daniel,
Thomas L. Sturgeon, James Forsyth, David and Uriah Young,
Godfrey Jones, R. W. Elder, James Hughes, George White, Rich-
ard Joliffe and Perry Bailv.
Let us turn to Union Township on the north of Hensley. Some
time in 1823. Bartholomew Carroll moved from Kentucky bv the
way of the Three Notched Line road, then newly cut out. and
found his way through the bush to the South Fork of Stott's
Creek, and settled in Section 34, where John Vandiver afterward
built a mill. Carroll had a family, consisting of his wife, three sons,
William, John and Samuel, and two girls. The grandfather of his
children lived with him — a very aged man, who died, it is said,
when he was one hundred and ten years old. Bartholomew Car-
roll was a genuine backwoodsman. He spent his time in the wil-
21
n 2 A JOHNSON COUNTY.
derness hunting game and wild honey. The country about him
was well stocked with all kinds of game, common to the country^
and an experienced bee-hunter could take honey in vast quantities.
It is said that Carroll would sometimes have as many as ioo bee-
trees marked in the woods at a time.
There is some uncertainty as to the time when many ot the
pioneers moved into Union Township. It is next to impossible at
this time to ^et the names of all who came in, or the time when
they came. In fifty years, much that was at the time of interest,
sinks into oblivion.
In October, 1826, Peter Vandiver, John Garshuiler, Joseph
Simpson and Mrs. Christina Garshuiler settled on the east side of
the township, not far from the headwaters of the South Fork of
Stott's Creek. The North and South forks of btott s Creek run
through this township. Both afforded mill sites in the west side of
the township in the early times. They were so named from a
family by the name of Stotts, who settled at the mouth of the stream in
the early times. Another stream of this township is Kootz s t ork,
which taking its rise between the two Forks of Stott s Creek,
empties into the south one. A frontiersman by the name of Kootz
lived at the outlet of this stream long enough to give immortality to
his name. The same year Mrs. Gwinnie Utterback, with her
family of eight sons and one daughter, settled on a tract of land ly-
ing half a mile south of the present site of Union village. In 1827,
George Kepheart moved to Section 23, and Alexander Gilmer, to
the northeast corner.
In 1828 there was growth. Nearly 2,000 acres of land were
entered, and a dozen families moved in. Peter Zook Samuel
Williams, Henry Banta and John James stopped in the \ andiver
neighborhood. "Jacob List and Philip Kepheart located near the
east boundary line. Benjamin Utterback moved near to his sister-
in-law, and Adam Lash and James Rivers moved to the north side,
and Tohn Mitchell not far from the northwest corner, and Jesse
Youncr near the center. In 1S29 ten more families moved into
Union, Robert Moore and Joseph Young into Jesse \oungs
neighborhood, afterward known as Shiloh, William Bridges and
Tohn Tames near Vandiver's, William Kepheart and James
Vaughan in the Utterback neighborhood, and Henry Guseclore in
the northwest corner. Peter Bergen and Andrew Carmne moved
on the east side adjoining the Hopewell neighborhood, and John
Millis settled not far from the center of the township. I he next
year Garrett and James Terhune, two brothers, settled a mile west
of Vandiver's; Gideon Drake moved to within a mile of the Morgan
County line; Bennett, Austin and William Jacobs moved up to the
EARLY SETTLEMENTS. $2$
north side; Nicholas Wyrick settled on the North Fork of Stott's
Creek, and David and Cornelius Luyster on the east side of the
township.
In 1S31, Isaac Knox, John McColgin and Joshua Hammond,
who were Virginians, settled in the northwest corner on the North
Fork of Stott's Creek. Willis Deer and Wesley, his brother, and
John L. Jones, settled near Mrs. Utterback; John Henderson to
the northwest of them some miles; George Kerlin and Peter
Shuck on the east side of the township, and Garrett Vandiver not
far from the present site of Bargersville, while Serrill Winchester
and Jacob Core moved into Jesse Young's vicinity. The next
year, Jacob Banta and Samuel Throgmorton moved in, and in
1S33, Daniel Newkirk, the gunsmith, Peter D. Banta, Peter Banta,
David Demaree, John Knox, John Gets, Joshua Landers, and,
probably, Jesse Harris, Peter Voris and John Shuck. The fam-
ilies moving into the North Fork neighborhood were nearly or
quite all Virginians, but all the others, with but few exceptions,
were Kentuckians. Garrett Terhune was New Jersey born, but
moved from Kentucky. Jesse and Joseph Young, Gideon Drake
and Robert Moore were from Ohio. Out of more than seventy
families referred to, three-fourths were from Kentucky.
What was true of the nativity of the first settlers of Union
Township, was true of all save Nineveh. That was settled by
Ohioans mainly. In all the others the majority were Kentuckv born.
A sprinkling from east Tennessee, Virginia, North Carolina,
western Pennsylvania, and also Ohio, was to be found in all neigh-
borhoods.
We have seen that the population of the county at the time of
its organization was about 500. In 1828 the number of polls, as
shown by a report made by the Auditor of State to the Legisla-
ture, was 506, which would give a population of between 2,500 and
3,000. In 1830 the census showed a population of 4,019. In 1S32
there were 908 polls, showing a population of about 5,000. In
1835, judging from the vote of that year, it had increased to at least
6,500, and in 1840 the census showed an increase to 9,352.
o
26 JOHNSON COUNTY,
CHAPTER III.
BY D. D. BANTA.
The Pioneers — Where They Came From — Who They Were
— Arrival in the New Country — Deserted Cabins —
Architecture of the Early Homes — Modes of Travel
— Hardships of New Comers — Domestic Animals —
Mast — Hog Stealing — Situation of New Homes —
Primitive Tools — Mode of Farming — Hunting Incidents
— WomanV Work — Doctors and Diseases — Morals,
Social Customs, Etc.
SETTLEMENTS were first made in Johnson County
^ early in 1820. All of the New Purchase was open to
immigrants by that year, and when the time came
for laving it off into counties, it was found that settle-
* T
ments in all had been begun about the same time. In
all. the growth was slow in comparison to what has been
seen in new counties further west, in a later day. At
the end of the first year there were not to exceed twenty
families in Johnson County. * During the second the number in-
creased to about fifty-rive, and at the close of the third it was not
less than 100. It took ten years to bring it up to 800.
The majority of the first settlers of Johnson County visited the
country and selected the place of their future abiding before mov-
ing. The greater part of these made some sort of arrangement
for shelter before coming. A few bought lands on which cabins
had already been built by earlier settlers. Others unaided, or with
hired or volunteer help," built their own cabins, while others still,
hired the work done altogether. A cabin of two rooms, finished
after the fashion of the times, usually cost about $50. Not
a few at the beginning moved to the country without knowing
-where they were" going to locate, and having no promise of shelter.
Occasionally one of these found an unoccupied cabin in the woods,
into which he moved and lived until he could built for himself.
Samuel Herriott, who came to the county in December, 1820, find-
ing such a cabin on Sugar Creek, moved in. It had been
erected the fall before, and was unfinished, having "neither door,
floor, nor chimney." His wife, after raking a six-inch snow out,
drove forks in one corner of the cabin and laying poles therein,
THE PIONEERS. 327
crossed them with chipboards on which she made the bed. This
she curtained with the wagon-sheet, making it quite comfortable.
In the center of the floorless cabin, against a stump, she set a tire
burning, which gave warmth to the family, and over which she
hung the pot when she wanted it to boil. In this primitive abode
Mr. Ilerriott and his wife lived till about the first of February fol-
lowing, when they moved to their new home on the west side of
the creek. This new cabin had a puncheon floor when they moved
in, and Dame Herriott, more than fifty vears afterward, speaking
of her " one big pot and two splint-bottomed chairs," declared that
when the men could sit on the edge of that puncheon floor and eat
their dinners out of that pot, she " felt well fixed."*
But unoccupied cabins were not of common occurrence. The
greater number of those who ventured to move to the country
without having homes prepared beforehand, or friends to give
them shelter, camped in the woods while building their cabins.
In 1S22, Andrew Pierce came to the White River settlement. His
wife and he had walked all the way from Pittsburg, each carrying
a bundle containing all their worldly goods. At their journey's end,
which they reached after the winter weather had begun, they
camped by the side of a log in the woods, till, with the help of
the neighbors, a rude cabin was built, in which they found shelter.
Benjamin Crews, who moved to Nineveh early in the spring of
182 1, camped for eight weeks before his home was made. The
season was so far advanced, and the necessities for raising a crop
so great, that the first thing he did was to clear a field and
plant it in corn, after which he put up a cabin. Sometime in
1S26, Thomas Henderson, who was living at the Big Spring,
notified his neighbor, Simon Covert, that a family had moved into
the woods some miles to the westward of his place, and he proposed
that thev go and see who it was. Shouldering their axes, they
set out, and at the end of a five miles' tramp, they found Mrs.
Gwinnie Utterback, a widow with her family, consisting of eight
sons and one daughter, camped in the woods a short distance
south of the present site of Union village. The two pioneers,
with the assistance of the Utterback boys, fell to with a will, and
soon had a pole cabin up, into which the widow and her house-
hold at once moved, and began life in the Indiana wilderness in
earnest.
At this distance an air of romance is cast about many occur-
rences that no doubt were painfully matter of fact to the parties
concerned, at the time. In the fall of 1830, Garrett Terhune and
" History Presbyterian Church of Franklin, p. T93.
32S JOHNSON COUNTY.
his brother James, arrived from Kentucky, and settled on the east
side of Union Township, a mile west of Peter Vandiver's place.
Gai rett Terhune had a family of ten children, and he paid a man
$30, all the money he had, to move him out. No preparation
for shelter had been made, and when the end of the journey
was reached, the movers' goods and their families were literally
turned out in the woods. The brothers at once built two open
camps ten feet apart and facing each other. In the space between
the) made the camp fire, at which the meals were cooked, and
around which both families gathered of nights listening to the
moan of the autumn winds in the tree tops and the howl of the
prowling wolves. At the end of six weeks they abandoned their
camps for a double cabin which they had erected in the meanwhile.
Peter Vandiver, Terhune's nearest neighbor, moved to the country
in 1S26. Ten children were in his family and they were without
shelter. The father, assisted by the older sons, immediately built
an open camp, twelve by twenty feet, into which the family moved
and lived till a better house was made.
The " open camp," as it was called in the early days, was quite
frequently met with at one time in the Johnson County forests.
The most of those who came to the county without homes pre-
pared beforehand, found shelter till that could be done, in the hast-
ily constructed open camp. The greater number of the early set-
tlers had cabins prepared before moving. This was specially true
of those who came from the southern part of the state, and from
Kentucky. But it would seem, that of these, the greater part
moved into unfinished homes. The man who came in advance to
build was quite often read)' to return for his family and goods, as
soon as his cabin was raised and had a roof on. Door, window,
floor and chimney could be attended to afterward. Robert
Forsyth's cabin was without floor, door, chimney, daubing, chink-
ing or loft, when he moved to it. John P. Banta came to the
county, a year before he moved, and built a cabin, put a roof on,
chinked the cracks, and made a mud and stick chimney. When
he moved to it in September, 1829, it was without door, window,
floor or loft. William Keaton and his wife moved into theirs before
a place for a door, window or chimney, was cut out. The top log
of the door span had been cut out and the family climbed in and
out as best they could, till such time as a larger entrance could be
made.
It was so common in the pioneer times, this moving into un-
finished cabins, that it seldom or never caused comment. It may
be safely assumed that during the first ten years after the first
white man moved to the countv, more than half of the people who
THE PIONEERS.
329
came to find homes, lived for a time in unfinished cabins. Quilts
and blankets hung over cabin doors and windows, gave protection
against wind and weather for weeks, and in some instances, for
months, to a large per cent, of the people who came during those
first ten years.
The "first cabins were primitive structures. They were made
of round logs felled on or near the home site. Some were square
enclosures, but most were parallelogram in form. Sixteen by
eighteen feet was a common size, but some were 18x20. The roof
was held in place bv weight poles. The cracks between the logs
were chinked with wood and daubed with tempered mortar to keep
out the rain and cold. The back wall and jambs were made of
dry earth invariably dug from beneath the floor and beaten so
firmly into place as to stand the fires of many winters. Mounting
above these was the mud and stick chimney, which, after a few
years, usuallv had to be propped with a pole to keep it from fall-
ing. Slabs of ash — blue ash preferred — hewn to a face, made
the floor — a floor that gave a silvery brightness at the touch of the
scrubbing broom and mopping cloth. There were no carpets in
those davs, but in most families, Sunday morning saw the cabin
floor as white as the table linen. If there was poplar plank to be
had, it went inn the cabin door, but if there was none, riven oak
boards, smoothed with a drawing knife, answered the purpose. On
wooden hinges the door was apt to swing, and its fastening might
be a wooden pin, or better, a wooden latch with the string hang-
ing out.
In the construction of many of the first cabins, not a nail, not a
scrap of iron entered. Wood and clay composed it all. A " worm"
fence around it protected it and the door-yard, from the cattle and
hogs. Very soon a better order of cabin architecture followed.
The two roomed cabin with its clapboard roof nailed on, its logs
scotched, its doors and windows cased in sawed stuff and painted
blue or red, was to be seen everywhere. Sometimes the two
rooms would be separated bv an " entry," making a form of cabin
known in some quarters as a " saddle-bags cabin," but usually, the
line dividing the two rooms, consisted of a wall of logs, through the
middle of which was cut the " inside door."
Into the majority of the primitive cabins, the Johnson County
pioneers moved during the autumnal season. Most of them came
in wagons, but not all. Andrew Pierce and his wife walked all
the way from Pittsburg, carrying packs on their backs. Stith
Drniel, who settled near the present site of Trafalgar, packed
through from Kentuckv on horse back. Richard Perry, who came in
1823, brought part of his goods in a two wheeled vehicle, drawn by
330 JOHNSON COUNTY.
oxen, and packed the residue on horse-back. He was ten days
traveling 200 miles. Ladd, who settled at the bluffs, close to the
line, moved all the way from North Carolina in a sled. George
Bridges came to the country with two wagons, one of which was
" home-made." The wheels were made of thick oak plank with iron
tires. Not infrequently the wife and mother rode on horse back,
and the biggest children walked. Mrs. John Doty rode all the
way from the North Bend, below Cincinnati, and carried the
baby. Mrs. Nancy Forsyth rode from her old Kentucky home on
horse back. At the crossing of the Driftwood, she took on a sack
of meal and carried her two year old baby in her lap before her,
while the baby carried the pet house cat.
The fall of the year was usually chosen as the time to move, of
necessitv. The wretched condition of the Indiana roads as found
at almost all other seasons of the year, operated largely to bring
this about. From the season of the beginning of the fall rain, on
through the winter and spring and till the summer drouths held the
land in their dry embrace, it was next to impossible to haul a load
from the Ohio River to central Indiana. Some years the dry sea-
son was of such short duration that the mud-roads held sway the
year round. George Kerlin, who moved to the country in the
month of September, 1831, found the roads next to impassable
from the Ohio River out. At any other than during the dry sea-
son, it was a hard dav's ride from Franklin to Edinburg and return.
It occupied all of one day to ride to Indianapolis. When once in
his new home the pioneer was apt to find his lines in any but pleas-
ant places. His cabin was cheerless. Everything was new. The
conveniences of life were scant. Much had tc be left at the old
home that could not be supplied in the new. It is difficult to con-
vey to the people of this age an adequate idea of the unsupplied
wants of the people who lived in the early days. Poverty abounded
evervwhere. There were few, indeed, who had money, and the
majority lacked in everything that is now deemed essential to
comfort.
In 1820, a man with his family, came to Johnson County from
Tennessee, whose earthly all, was a "rifle-gun and fifty cents worth
of powder and lead, a little scant bedding and a skillet and piggin."
Another man had a "straw tick, a broken skillet, a bucket, a rifle-
gun, a butcher knife and a steelyards."' Still another man's outfit of
culinary ware was a coffee pot and a few pewter dishes. And one man
after clearing his little field for corn planted the seed with his axe,
He had neither horse, plow or hoe, nor money with which to buy
them. James and Moses McClain, who moved to this count}' from
Oldham Countv, Ivy., in 1S27, brought their two families and their
THE PIONEERS. 331
worldly goods in one two-horse wagon. Moses had no money and
James had 25 cents. Garrett Terhune, as we have seen, paid all
his money to the man who moved him. He had a wife and ten
children to maintain, besides two horses and a dozen head of cattle.
The story of the hardships endured by this man and his family, as
told by a son who survives, presents a most pathetic picture of the
times. The first and second planting of corn failed, and the third
which came was ruined by the frost. There was no grain for the
cattle and many of them died. The horses were so poor that they
could not work in the plow beyond two hours at a time, but had to
be turned out to graze. Before the second year's crop came, Mr.
Terhune had to have corn for bread. "I never ate acorns because
I had to," said James, the son, "but I ate acorns because I was
hungry." The meal was low in the barrel and the corn pone was
cut into twelve pieces of equal size at each repast. The father
without money went to the hawpatch to buy bread, where he met
a distant relative who sold him the needed grain and waited for the
pay. Thus they tided over their day of distress till the new crop
came.
William Keaton had a somewhat similar experience. Being
out of breadstuffs, he left a sick wife and a family of little children,
and went to the neighborhood east of Edinburg to buy corn, with-
out money. But, unacquainted as he was, everyone refused to sell
to him, and then he went to Tannehill's mill. It had so hap-
pened that as he moved from Kentucky, he had brought a few
pounds of wool which he had left at Tannehill's carding machine.
The wool was still there and uncarded, and, in his extremity, he
persuaded the miller to hold the wool as security for a grist of
corn, and was thus enabled to return home with meal for his
hungry family. Sometimes, during the first few years, breadstuffs
could not be had at any price. The years 1S24 and 1S25 were
exceedingly hard ones. The raccoons and the squirrels destroyed
the corn patches to such an extent, that many who would have been
provided otherwise by their own crops, had to work elsewhere.
John Dotv's family, living on White River, subsisted for weeks on
dried venison, and his was not the only family reduced to this ex-
tremity. Twelve miles north of Indianapolis, on Connor's prairie,
was an abundance of corn, and to that Egypt, many went' from all
parts of the country, and were supplied. On one occasion, Peter
and Samuel Doty, John's sons, set out with their axes on their
shoulders, and a "few dollars in their pockets, to buy corn at the
prairie. After they had gone four miles, Daniel Etter, a neighbor,
overtook them. He left at home a wife and nine little children.
Etter was without money, but he had a butcher knife — probably
33 2 JOHNSON COUNTY.
one of his own make (for he was an expert blacksmith) and a
steelyard that would draw 300 pounds.
At their journey's end the men found work, and in due time the
Dotys, with the money they had and, with that earned, announced
their intention of returning; but Etter was not ready to go. He
had earned only twelve bushels and had his butcher knife and steel-
yard still on hand. Never had the outlook seemed to him quite so
full of gloom before. He had made a hard struggle to maintain
his family, and it seemed as if every year the difficulties became
greater. " I cannot," said he, " return to my wife and children with
only twelve bushels of corn. It is useless to try to live in this coun-
try any longer, and the sooner my troubles are ended the better."
His friends, assuring him they had no intention of leaving him
behind them, proffered to take his knife and steelyard and try
their luck in the corn trade. That same evening they found a man
who wanted a steelyard, and with that and the knife, thirty more
bushels of corn were bought, and Daniel Etter was fairly beside
himself with joy. The men at once went to work on two large
dug-outs, into which the corn was laden, and after being lashed
together they were floated down the river and landed at the mouth
of Honey Creek, whence the precious grain was distributed among
the neighbors.
Most of the Johnson County settlers brought domestic animals
with them to the new country. In the beginning these were left
mainly to shift for themselves. Men who were hard pressed to get
corn to make bread for their families, made little effort to secure it
for their beasts. There was no pasture, however, according to the
present signification of that word, but the range was boundless, and
a pioneer cow, hog, sheep, and even horses, soon learned to find a
living in it. Probably most of the animals brought to the country
were woods wise when they came, but if not, they soon became
so. All soon became "rangers, learning to go where the picking
was the best. The readiness with which the domestic animals
adapted themselves to their environments was often a subject of
comment among their owners. Some curious stories are told relat-
ing to the early domestic animals. The pioneer describing his
moving was apt to speak of " driving " his cattle and other stock,
but he was not always accurate in the use of the word. After a
few days' travel there was usually no driving, the stock following
close upon the teams of their own accord. When Charles Dun-
gan came from Washington County, Va., he brought two cows.
For a few days they had to be driven, but after that they followed
the teams as faithfully as the dogs, and although the roads were
lined with movers, never once did thev make a mistake in wagons.
THE PIONEERS. 333
They knew their owner's wagon, and when the camping place was
reached at night they laV down, and were ready to resume the
journey in the morning.
Amid the Johnson Count}- forests, hickory, beech, oak and wal-
nut trees grew in great abundance, and seldom failed to bear a
bountiful mast. The strain of hogs common in that day, was a
shifty one, and usually kept in good condition the year round. Dur-
ing the fall season when the new mast was falling, they became /
fat and were killed out of the woods for bacon. As early as
1824, wild hogs had become quite numerous along the border, and
there were few men of the county who did not kill their meat in the
woods. So wild were some droves that it required as great, and
indeed sometimes greater, skill, to hunt them down than even the
deer. The habit of the drove of returning at night to their usual
bed enabled the hunter to creep up and get one or more shots in
the morning. Not uncommon was it for the pig hunter to dig a
hole in the earth, and rilling it with water, drop in heated stones till
a temperature was reached suitable for scalding, after which he
dressed his meat and hauled it home.
The fat hog of the early days, it must be borne in mind, differed
much from the fat hog of these days. It never became so fat it
could not run with great swiftness, and if a ranger, as most were,
it was sure to be more or less wild. Indeed, the tendency of the
hog to relapse into a wild state, was more marked than in any other
animal. Perhaps it was because the hog was less looked after
than an\- other domestic animal. The writer remembers a barn-
yard fowl that had been overlooked by a moving family and left to
shift for herself on an unoccupied farm. At the end of three
months she was wilder than a quail, and at the approach of man
would fly into the top of the tallest tree. The first lot of hogs that
were driven through from central Indiana to an Ohio River town,
was in 1S24 or 1825. They were purchased in the vicinity of the
bluffs on White Rive*r, by a man from Ohio, by the name of Jacob
Lowe, and were turned into a large field on the old Whetzel farm,
and men were employed to drive them back and forth for several
days in order to train them for driving on the road.
The farmer's anxiety concerning his hogs was less for their
food than for their safetv. If they did not turn wild and thus
escape him, they were liable to be killed or stolen. The foxes and
wolves preyed upon the young pigs, while a bear did not scruple to
pull down a full grown hog on occasion. But the owner feared
the hog thieves more than the wild animals. The thieves infested
every quarter of the county. Amid the dense woods, and far be-
yond the hearing of the nearest settler, it was no hard matter to
334 JOHNSON COUNTY.
run down with trained dogs young swine and mark them with the
thief's own mark. It was still easier to go into the woods and
shoot a fat shote. Joseph Voorheis, who settled about three miles
north of Hopewell, hearing a shot in the woods, went in the direc-
tion of it till he came to a couple of men who had killed and were
skinning a hog. They appeared quite friendly, and affecting great
admiration of his gun. one of them took it as if to look at it. Xo
sooner was he disarmed than their demeanor changed. They
threatened his life and the man really thought his end had come.
The hog thieves reminded him that " dead men tell no tales," but
finally relenting, they made him swear never to reveal what he had
seen, and true to his oath, he never told it till after he moved to
Iowa about thirty years ago, and after both thieves had long been
dead. One of these men was a son of Nathaniel Bell, the first
representative Johnson County had in the state's prison. Bell had
long been suspected of hog stealing.
The grasses now common on every farm, were not indiginous
to the soil. Blue grass, timothy, red-top, are all interlopers, and
came after the settlements were begun. In the nature's deadenings,
and along the margins of the open swamps, wild grasses grew
scantily in patches. There were not many of these places to be
found, however. Wild pea vines afforded a more bountiful and
nutritious herbage than the wild grasses of the country. As the
" deadenings " increased in acreage and age, the pasturage grew
better. But the pioneers had to wait a good many years for the
grass in the deadenings. In the autumnal season, the cattle fed on
the acorns, like the deer, and at all seasons the thick underbrush af-
forded a nutritious browse on which cattle, horses and sheep
"picked for a living." During the inclement winter weather when
stock were loth to leave the clearing, the farmer felled lin, ash,
maple and other trees that his stock might browse on the twigs.
He, whose animals ranged the woods in quest of food, faced a con-
stant fear of their loss by straying. The habit of wandering was
apt to grow on all ranging animals, unless they were driven back
to their homes at stated intervals. Statutes were passed providing
for the return of straying beasts by the finders, but so common was
the evil, that at one time hardly a farm could be found on which
the recent loss of an animal was not lamented, or a posted one
could not be pointed out. Every farmer had his " ear-mark," and
even - hoof of stock he owned, save his horses, bore it. This mark
was made of public record, and by means of it, many a wandering
beast was reclaimed. Upper and under-bits, smooth crops, half-
crops, slits, swallow-forks, holes, and the like, at one time, disfig-
ured one or both ears of every cow, hog, or sheep in the country.
THE PIONEERS. 335
The hardships from the straying propensity of animals was felt
in its greatest severity by the new-comer. We know that he and
his wife and children suffered from home-sickness. So severe was
the attack now and then, that families moved back to the old home,
to return to the new after the spell was over. Most families visited
the old home in a year or two, and thus tided over the spell.
Among the early settlers was a wide-spread belief that their domes-
tic animals not infrequently suffered the pangs of home-sickness.
At times an irresistible desire would seem to overcome a horse,
a pig, and sometimes a cow, to return to the old place, and much
trouble came to the settler in consequence. Samuel Owens had a
horse that repeatedly went back to the old home in Clark Count}'.
Some curious stories have been told, illustrating this disposition to
return, the following two of which are well vouched for:
Daniel Covert moved to the county in September, 1825, bring-
ing with him horses, hogs and cattle. His horses becoming dis-
quieted, set out for their old Kentucky home, but he overtook them
near Columbus, and brought them back. Next, his hogs disap-
peared, but he recovered them all save one sow and eight shotes.
These, after a vain hunt, he gave up for lost. Sometime dur-
ing the winter, business called him to Kentucky, where he re-
mained for a few weeks, and then set out for his Johnson County
home. On his way back, a short distance south of Graham's Fork,
in Jennings County, and not less than rifty miles from home, he
met his sow and eight shotes, and a new litter of pigs, on the
march southward. On inquiry, he ascertained where she stopped
on the way for her new progeny to be born and to grow in
strength sufficient to bear the hardships of the further journey.
In the early part of January, 1823, Daniel Pritchard moved to the
Blue River settlement, from Henry County, in Kentucky. Among
other domestic animals he brought a sow with a family of pigs, six
weeks old. In a day or two she and her pigs were missing, and
after much hunting he gave them up as lost. But in a few weeks
a letter came from his old home, announcing their safe return.
The entire journey they had made, of over a hundred miles, swim-
ming the river on the way, and not one was missing.
Central Indiana, at the time the first settlers came, abounded in
wild animals, some of which, the deer, notably, was a blessing,
while the most of the others proved a curse. Of all, the most ma-
levolent was the wolf. He was a prowler and a thief. He hunted
singly and in packs. The pioneer who killed a deer, dare not
leave it in the woods over night, unless he sprung it to the top of a
sapling. John Smiley, while living on Sugar River Creek, left his
meat hanging under a shed at the end of his cabin, far above the
/
33^ JOHXSON COUNTY.
reach of the most active dog, but the wolves came, and leaping up
to it, dragged it down and devoured it. Young calves found by
them in the woods they were sure to devour, and on one occasion,
a pack ran down a full grown cow, belonging to Garrett Terhune,
and killed her. When found, they had chewed one leg off, and
eaten other portions.
But it was in the destruction of sheep that the wolves did the
greatest injury to the pioneer settler. To the wool he looked for
his winter clothing. It made jeans for his own coat, and flannels
and linsey woolseys for his wife's dresses; and it was therefore next
in his economy to bread. Levi Moore, as written elsewhere,
penned his sheep under his cabin; a few pioneers joined the pen to
the cabin, while the greater number built a sheep house more or
less remote from the dwelling place. If. by any chance, the flock
was left unhoused over night, its decimation was probable be-
fore mornin<r. On the occasion of a yreat storm of wind and rain
that arose late one afternoon, John Doty's sheep failed to reach
shelter. That night the wolves assailed them, but the leader of the
flock, an old ram, made such a valiant defence, that he brought
home early the next morning, every ewe and lamb unscathed. Un-
fortunately, however, for the hero of the occasion, his injuries were
so severe, that after a few days he died. Of ten sheep taken to the
Indian Creek neighborhood by Richardson Henslev, in 1824, seven
fell victims to the wolves within three weeks.
Let us approach the pioneer's new home. We find his cabin
in the heart of the <rreen woods. If a creek flows in the nei<rhbor-
hood of his location, we will be quite sure to find him living on a
bit of high ground near that creek, for there he will find natural
drainage; but if no creek be near, on the highest, dryest knoll, he
could find on his purchase, has he built. Hard by his cabin site is al-
most sure to be a spring of running water, which he imagines will
flow forever, but which he will be quite sure to see dry up about
the time his farm is cleared. Look which way he will, green trees
lifting their stately columns skyward, are crowned by an inter-
woven mass of branches that, when the vernal foliage puts out, ob-
scures the sun till the autumnal frosts cut it down. Beneath is a
dense thicket of spice-wood, hazel, green briars, young saplings
and other underbrush, and underneath that, down trees scarcely
less numerous than the standing, lie rotting in the dank soil.
Amidst this thick, moist woods, the new-comer must chop and
grub and burn out his fields if he would eat bread of the corn of
his own tilling. No sooner is he settled than he begins the labor-
ious work. Marking out his proposed field, with a strong arm he
begins the toil. Every thing " eighteen inches in diameter as high
THE PIONEERS. 337
as the knee," is felled, which, with all the down logs, save the great
oaks and poplars, is made ready for rolling into heaps. All trees
over that girth are left standing, and about their roots, sticks and
brush are piled and burned to ensure speedy death and consequent
failure of the next summer's foliage. The big logs he leaves till
a more convenient season — a season that will hardly come ere the
scorched trees rot and fall, and make the second clearing but little
less laborious than the first.
This was the general plan, and diligent was that man, who, dur-
ing his first fall, winter and spring, prepared, unaided, his five, six
or seven acres for rolling. Now and then a man cleared smooth.
The late Theodore List had one such held of nine acres cut in the
green, and he told the writer that a man could have walked all
over his field on the logs without touching earth, before the}- were
rolled. It required four days' hard work with a large force of hands
to roll those logs. How destructive to human muscle must have
been the log-rollings of the early days! One day, two days, the
log-roller might have endured without any material depletion of
bodily strength, but when it came to six, eight, twelve, twenty,
thirty, and in some instances even more days than that, year after year,
rolling into heaps, both green and water-soaked logs, there was
such a draft on the vital powers as made men grow old before their
time. John Tracy rolled logs "from fifteen to twenty days every
year until the country was cleared up." John Carson, as late as
1S40, rolled logs twenty-two days in one year. James Ware rolled
for thirty days one year. Peter Vandiver rolled " from twenty to
twenty-five days every year, and went from one to five miles."
Theodore List rolled twenty-four days in one year; Melvin Wheat
twenty-two; George Bridges "over twenty"; Tavlor Ballard
"thirty days in common," but "rolled in one year thirty-five days,"
and Samuel Herriott thirty-six days, but he was a politician. But
the pioneer farmer did not always have his logs rolled before plant-
ing and tilling his crop. Not infrequently he was so hard pressed
that he was fain to plant amid the down logs. He found it all he
could do to grub and burn the brush. The first crop of corn Simon
Covert raised he planted amid the logs. Serrill Winchester felled
his trees in winrows, and planted in the open spaces between. John
Henry, of Nineveh, planted with the hoe amid the logs, and tilled
his corn with the same implement.
I low difficult it is to sketch a picture of life in early days, and
leave out none of the lights and shadows. The pioneer's little field
cleared and fenced according to the fashion of the times, the next
step was to plow it and plant it in corn. Let the farmer of to-day,
in imagination, enter such a field, with his well-muscled, full-fed
.
338 JOHNSON COUNTY.
team of horses encased in the best harness the most skilled work-
man can make, and hitched to a steel plow, the like of which the
fore-fathers never dreamed, and how disheartening his work
would be amid the array of green stumps and trees, and the net-
work of green roots! And vet how superlatively more difficult it
was for the pioneer than it would be for the farmer of to-day. His
team (if he had one) was small and weak for the want of proper
food: his gears, home-made, even to the names, to the tow-cloth,
back-band, and to the single rope plow line. He was well off if his
horse collars were not made of corn husks, by his own or a more
skillful neighbor's hands. His plow was a shovel pattern, or a bar-
share, the former of which has survived in a modified form, while
the latter has long since disappeared. " This last was a bar on the
land side with a broad flat share running to a point at the forward
end, attached to a coulter, with a steel nose in front. The coulter ex-
tended up through the wooden beam of the plow; two wooden
handles are attached to the beam and to the bar of the land side of
the plow, the other handle connected with a wooden mold board,
which pressed out the dirt and partially turned it. It was connected
with the other handle by wooden pins or rounds."*
The bar-share plow was a cumbersome and unsatisfactory im-
plement. It had a long beam, six feet or over, the bar was often
three feet or more in length, and the handles raked far backward.
The distance that intervened between the ends of the handles and the
noses of the horses, when in motion, would, if seen in a modern
field, lead to a good deal of jovial criticism. Plowing with the
bar-share was laborious work, and when the point of the long bar
struck a root, the kick-up of the long geared machine was never
to be forgotten. It was a standing joke among the pioneer farm-
ers, that "a bar-share would kick a man over the fence and kick
him after he was over." In a few years the bar-share was super-
ceded by the "Cary" plow, an implement approaching in its gen-
eral shape the modern plow, and that in turn gave way sometime
during the 4o's, to the cast-iron plow. The shovel plow was the
pioneer farmer's favorite. With'it he broke up his corn ground
and tilled his corn. His breaking shovel plow had a coulter filled
to the beam, which dropped to the point of the plow at such an
angle that whenever the plow struck an impediment, it automat-
ically ••jumped out of the ground and over the root and into the
ground on the other side." During the first years little or no har-
rowing was done, the rough condition of the fields forbidding it.
All grain sown broadcast on fallow ground was brushed in.
Dr. Philip Mason's "Autobiography," 105.
THE PIONEERS.
339
The pioneer farmer depended as much on the hoe as on the
plow in tilling- His corn. It was the rule with nearly all, to give the
corn at least one good hoeing, which meant that the field must be
gone over row bv row, and the corn be hoed hill by hill. The new
ground, after two or three years of cultivation, was prolific in weeds,
which, with the plows in use, it was next to impossible to keep
down: hence, the resort to the hoe. Of wet years, "pulling weeds"
was a common mode of cultivation — a mode of culture that might
have been designed by the evil one for the special torment of boys.
The farmer of the early times owned but few implements, and nearly
all oi these were home-made. There was usually about one hand-
saw, one cross-cut, one broad-axe, one auger, one chisel and one
drawing-knife to the neighborhood, and these came from the
••east." and if not kept to loan, they might almost as well have been,
for everybody borrowed. If the farmer had a knack at working
in wood, give him an axe and an auger or burning iron, and he
could make almost any machine he was wont to work with. From
the roots of an ash or an oak he could fashion his hames and sled-
runners. He could make his own whifile-trees, stock his plows,
half-sole or make his sled, make an axle-tree for his wagon, if he
had one. make a rake, a harrow, a scythe-snath, a grain-cradle,
a hav-rack, a loom, winding blades, a wash-board, a stool, a chair,
and in a pinch a table, a bedstead, a •• dresser " and a cradle in
which to rock his baby. If he was more than ordinarily clever he
repaired and sometimes made his own cooperage, but he usually
patronized the cooper, and always the blacksmith, the tanner and
the wheelwright. He had little use for the shoemaker because he
mended all his own shoes and made most of them, and less for the
fuller and tailor, because his wife spun and wove all the cloth and
cut and made all the clothes, and none at all for the house carpen-
ter, because, with his axe, he could do about all the carpenter's
work needed.
Let us return to the settler's new field. The breaking is done
and the corn is planted. It may be late in the season according to
the modern idea, but we must remember that the soil is virgin and
that all vegetation grows rampant. Mrs. Nancy Forsyth remem-
bers that her first planting of corn-beans shot up till the vines
caught into the lower limbs of the trees. Simon Covert laid his
first crop of corn by, within eighteen days after planting, and raise 1
fifty bushels to the acre. But the luck more often went against
the early agriculturist than with him. Many causes combined to
jeopardize his corn crop. It ran the risks of late spring frosts and
of the early fall ones, it was liable to be injured by cut worms, and
there might be too much or too little rain. These risks are yet to
22
340 JOHNSON COUNTY.
be run but the pioneer farmer experienced others and greater ones.
which happily the modern farmer knows little or nothing of. The
wood-peckers pulled up the sprouting plants and pecked into the
roasting ears to an injurious extent, little dreamed of now-a-davs;
and when the grain had ripened, the wild turkeys feeding upon it,
lessened the crop more than we are apt to think. And so of the
raccoons. As soon as it was in roasting-ear state, these animals
invaded the fields and pulling down the stalks, devoured the young
corn like so many pigs. Samuel Doty describing to the writer the
devastation done by the raccoons said : " The sound of their eating
in the corn patch was like the sound of the eating of so many
hogs." John Doty had a field of three acres entirely consumed by
the raccoons.
But the depredation of the grey squirrels was greater than that
from all other causes combined. These rodents swarmed through-
out the primitive woods. They prowled around the fields and
found hiding places in the dead trees left standing therein. As
soon as the seed corn was covered they began their work of de-
struction, and kept it up till the grain was absorbed by the growing
plant. With what certainty a squirrel will follow the row and dig
in the corn-hills only, till he found the grain, there are men yet liv-
ing who remember. Thence on till earing time the rodents could
do no harm, but no sooner were the grains found on the cob than
the spring marauders, accompanied bv a full grown progeny, re-
turned, and between themselves, the birds and raccoons, the little
fields stood a sorry chance. Some years they were worse than
others, but all were bad. The years 1824, 1834 an ^ l ^3^ were
specially bad ones. During the squirrel visitations the farmer put
forth his utmost efforts to protect his crop. The children were
sent to the fields armed with every conceivable device for making
a noise. They rattled " horse fiddles " and bells, and beat on fence
rails and hollow stumps and trees, with clubs. Mrs. Jacob Halfacre,
a daughter of John Campbell, the first settler of the county, remem-
bered in her old age, that the first work she and her sisters engaged
in after their arrival on Blue River, which was about the first of
June, was to keep the birds and squirrels out of their father's five-
acre corn field. At daybreak he would waken her and her sisters,
and they would immediately go to their respective stations in the
field and begin the noisy demonstrations of the day. During the
heat of the day the squirrels lay concealed in the woods, and they
rested from their labors, but as the afternoon sun descended, the
squirrels returned and they resumed their noisy demonstrations in
the field.
Every possible plan for the destruction of the little animals was
THE PIONEERS.
34 1
resorted to. In some fields a dead-fall or other form of trap was
to be seen in almost ever}- fence corner. Nearly every farmer
kept a gun, and it was used daily as long as the visitation lasted.
Sometimes the farmers of a neighborhood would combine, and
while one of their number would make the round of their fields,
shooting squirrels as he went, the others would look after the till-
ing of his corn. Jacob Banta, who settled in Union Township, in
1832, had a hired hand, John Harrell, who, under his instructions,
plowed half a day and shot squirrels the other half; and so faithfully
did the hand perform his last half day's work, that the " stench
from the putrid squirrels lying around the corn field, made the air
sickening." The wife of John S. Miller, of Nineveh, with rifle on
shoulder, patroled the woods around the field, and kept the squirrels
out, while her husband tilled the corn. So good a shot did this
pioneer woman become, that she could shoot her game in the head,
making as few misses as any hunter in the neighborhood.
The stories told of the abundance of squirrels some years,
and of their destructiveness, almost challenge our credulity, but the
stories are, nevertheless, well authenticated. Mrs. Millie Owens
says there were seasons when she could stand in her door and see
"fifteen or twenty squirrels on the fence at any morning or even-
ing hour." James Owens, her husband, killed 200 in one day.
Jacob Bower shot twenty-six on one occasion "without moving out
of his tracks." William Freeman, without arising from his chair at
the breakfast table, shot nine from a hill of ripening corn in the
garden in front of his cabin door. Thomas Patterson shot two
from a neighbor's chimney, and the}' fell into the fireplace within.
" Sometimes they were so thick they would average one to every
tree." No wonder they ate up the land. "Among the four fami-
lies living in White River Township, in 1821," says Judge Hardin,
"not a single bushel of corn was saved from the squirrels and rac-
coons." In the same year, George Barnett, on Blue River, bought
a four-acre field of corn in the shock. "I helped remove the fod-
der," says Ambrose, his son, "and was the lucky one. I found one
little ear of corn. So close had been the scenting of the grey
squirrels, that they had overlooked but one ear in the four acres."
John Ilarter stored a few bushels of corn in his cabin loft, but the
squirrels found it out, and ere he was aware, stole every ear.
John Smiley had a four-acre field of corn just ripened, when it was
invaded by a swarm of the rodents, and in two days, every ear was
eaten or carried away.
For the first few years the pioneer farmers confined themselves
mainly to raising corn. But after mills suitable for the grinding and bolt-
ing of Hour became accessible, they began to raise wheat. In spite of
34- JOHNSON COUNTY.
sultry weather, the harvest season was a joyous one. The men of
the neighborhood combined and went from field to field reaping and
shocking as they went. Thev made a sort of social occasion of it,
and thus the labor was lightened. At first it was with sickle the
bearded grain was cut, but soon the cradle crowded the sickle out,
but the social feature remained. A half dozen cradles mowing
with military precision through the waving grain, and followed by
as many binders, and the necessary complement of sheaf gatherers
and shockers, was a cheering sight. The labor was hard, but there
was time and opportunity tor the jest and laugh. Harvesters, in
those days, plumed themselves on their skill and endurance. Not
every man was an expert cradler, but the ambition of every boy
was to become one. More or less friendly emulation prevailed
among every band of harvesters as to who should so far excel as
to be conceded the leadership of the cradlers, and every one,
whether cradler or binder, feared the odium that would attach
should he, in the language o«f the times, "go to grass."
The harvest season was characterized by its good living. The
best cooks in the neighborhood vied with each other, and as a con-
sequence harvesters lived off the fat of the land. In many com-
munities, perhaps in a large majority, whisky was deemed a neces-
sity, and was passed freely with the water. In a few, butter-milk
took the place of whisky, whilst in others, water alone was drunk.
About the middle of the afternoon it was the custom in many places
to send to the harvesters a basket of refreshments, the most im-
portant part of which consisted of the coffee pot, cream pitcher and
sugar bowl. At the close of the day's work an elaborate supper
was eaten, after which the laborers repaired to their homes, undis-
turbed by thoughts of dyspepsia, to rest and sleep, and be ready to
repeat their experience on the morrow. In due time the wheat
crop was taken to the threshing floor. This was usually prepared
in the field by removing from a circular space, twenty or thirty feet
in diameter, the grass, stubble and irregularities of surface, after
which a few barrels of water were spilled over it. and it was then
thumped with a maul, till the surface was quite smooth and hard,
and solid. If the grain was flailed out out less pains were taken
with the threshing floor, but usually the grain was tramped out
with horses, and a hard floor became necessary. The grain the
farmer removed from the chaff with a sheet. This was a slow
process, requiring the labor of three persons, two at the sheet, and
one to pour the chaff and grain. Fanning-mills were introduced
slowly. Strange as it may seem, there existed in some quarters a
prejudice against the fanning-mill, that kept it out for a good many
years. In one neighboorhobd the fanning-mill became a church
THE PIONEERS. 343
matter, and it was seriously discussed as to whether it was not a
violation of the laws of nature to raise the wind in so peculiarly an
artificial manner. But the fanning-mill ultimately won.
The pioneer farmer long found his milling a difficult problem.
The approved style of milling for many years was to cany the
grist on horseback. For the first two or three years the grists
were thus carried to the White Water Mills, a distance of sixty miles.
As the country settled up the mills drew closer, and it was not long
before the water mills on the creeks of the county, Smiley 's, Harter's,
Ogle's, Thompson's and others, not to mention the horse-mills,
afforded facilities for grinding nearer home. As late as 1830, how-
ever, John Carson carried his grist a distance of twenty-two miles
to mill. About the first of November, 1824, John Stevens and
Richardson Hensley sent their sons, with grists, to TannehilFs mill,
on the Driftwood, about six miles north of Columbus. The corn
•had been gathered and dried for the purpose. The boys were
Gideon Stevens, aged ten years, and Elijah Harrell, his foster
brother, aged eleven, and Bloomfield Hensley, also aged eleven.
Each carried two bushels in a sack, strapped to the horse's back.
It took two days to go and return.
How did the pioneer spend his winters? He fed his beasts.
I lis horses he usually kept in an unchinked log stable, and his cows
he left out of doors to endure the winter weather as best the)' could.
It required main - years for him to realize the economic value of
warm barns for his beasts, or to think it worth while to prepare a
dry, comfortable place for his wife to do the milking in. lie cut
and hauled firewood from time to time, as it was needed; some-
where around his cabin was the woodpile, like as not it was near
the front door. If a lane passed the front door, the woodpile was
quite sure to be in that lane. To this woodpile he drew wood on
his sled, principally limbs of dead trees from the deadening, or he
dragged whole trunks of trees to it on the log sled or the "liz-
zard." In the woodpile he cut his wood as he needed it, and both
cut and uncut took the rain and the snow and the sleet, the same
as the unhoused cattle. The woodpile in the lane was a conspicu-
ous place during pioneer times. Here the sled, the log sled and
the lizzard were, also axes, mauls and wedges lay around. In pro-
cess of time its mound of chips became the driest spot on the farm,
and while it was not always suffered to become a bedding place for
the hogs, it seldom escaped being the milking place and the sleep-
ing place of the cows. There are men yet living who have a lively
recollection of the odors that exhaled from the woodpile during the
spring and summer weather.
344 JOHNSON" COUNTY.
On suitable days the pioneer made rails or worked in his clear-
ing, and on bad ones he half-soled his sled, made a handle for his
axe, mended his gears, fashioned a basket, and made and mended
shoes for himself and family. Or, perhaps, he went hunting. Not
all of the pioneers were hunters, but a majority were more or less
fired with a love for the chase. i\nd what a splendid hunting
ground la)' at their doors! The woods were full of game — bears,
panthers, wolves, deers, wild turkeys — what a rare catalogue for
the lovers of forest sports! To some the chase brought in its sea-
son, lasting delight, while to all, the game was a never failing
source of food supplv. Johnson Countv was well supplied with
most excellent " licks," to which the deer resorted in great num-
bers, all through the warm season of the year, and the merest tyro
could kill a deer in a " lick." The county, as indeed all of central
Indiana, abounded in a bountiful and variegated mast, on which the
deers, bears and wild turkeys fed and fattened in its season, and
little wonder the woods abounded in game. Joab Woodruff is said
to have killed 370 deer in the fall of 1S22, and George Doty told
the writer that he killed 300 in 182 1 and 1822. Samuel Herriott
bought 600 deer hides one year. Nathan Perry says he has fre-
quently seen as many as forty deer in one herd. Judge Franklin
Hardin remembers to have seen as main - as twenty-five on one oc-
casion, corralled in a bend of White River. William Burkhart
found Rock Lick, in Union Township, by pursuing a well beaten
path, known as a run-way, leading to it for a distance of seven
miles. Isaac Collier shot thirteen deer early one morning, at Col-
lier's Lick, in the edge of Brown Countv. In 1834, Henry Mus-
sulman started a herd of deer in the vicinity of Franklin, which he
followed to within a short distance of Indianapolis, and thence back
to their starting place, and during the chase killed six.
Venison was plenty indeed, and unskillful was that pioneer who
could not now and then secure one for his table. Many persons
kept the larder supplied the year round. William Rutherford, on
one occasion, knocked one in the head with an axe, as it ran past
him where he was making rails. One, pursued bv dogs, took shelter
in Gideon Drake's sheep pen adjoining his cabin, and Mrs. Drake
and a neighbor woman, closing the door of the pen, slaughtered it,
and made venison of it before the pursuing hunter came up. One
Sunday morning, shortly after King's cabin was built, Isaac Voor-
heis was sitting on the bank of Young's Creek, immediatelv south
of Judge Woollen's present residence. Hearing the bay of a dog
up the creek, he looked that way, and saw a deer coming toward
him. Keeping quiet, it came down to a point opposite to him and
the pioneers. 345
plunged in, but the current carried it down against a log, when
Voorheis rushed in and caught it, and in his hands it became veni-
son for the family.
Wild turkeys were more abundant even than deer. Wherever
there was food for them thev were to be found in goodly numbers.
Their •• keonk" was a familiar sound to the inmates of every cabin.
In the spring of 1S23, a drove passed over the after site of Frank-
lin, numerous enough to make a well marked trail a hundred yards
in width, but the y were extremely poor, and were, no doubt, migrating
in search of food. Simon Covert has been heard to say that for
several years after he moved to the neighborhood of the Big Spring,
he could at any time within a two hours' hunt during the fall and
early winter season, kill one or more turkeys. Jacob Fisher was
an expert turkev-pen builder, and thought nothing of catching six
or eight turkevs at a time in his pen. As late as 1850, flocks of
fifty were to be seen in the woods in Union Township, and in 1S56,
a wild turkev hen hatched a brood within fiftv vards of John Bar-
low's house in Clark Township. Wild turkeys often did much
mischief scratching up the newly planted corn, eating it after it was
grown, and treading down the smaller grain before it was harvested.
Richardson Hensley, of Hensley Township, lost his first planting
of corn by the turkeys scratching it up.
Men who bring a wilderness, inhabited by wild beasts, to a state
of civilization, never lack in romantic incidents with which to add
flavor to the tales told in old age. There are but few, indeed, who
do not vield to the charm of border life incident. Men who came
in conflict with the wild beasts of the country, necessarily met
with experiences that when afterward related, bordered on the
romantic. However dangerous some of the encounters had
with the wild animals by the pioneer hunters o^ the county,
no man ever lost his life, or for that matter, received serious injury,
save Lewis Hendricks, who lived in the Sugar Creek neigh-
borhood, in an encounter with a bear, when he met with an accident
that left him disabled for life. He had wounded the animal, and in
company with a neighbor, was hunting for it. One on either side
of a brush fence in which it was supposed to be lying, the}' were
walking slowly along, when it rushed out and attacked Hendricks.
His companion ran to his assistance and shot the infuriated animal,
but not before it had stripped the flesh from his arm, and other-
wise injured him.
Hardly a hunter of any note lived in the county during the
first ten years, who could not boast of his success as a bear hunter.
Curtis Pritchard, William Spears, Robert Worl and Jacob Woodruff,
while hunting, found three full-grown bears holed in trees. Kind-
346 JOHNSON COUNTY.
ling a fire in the hollow of one of the trees, one was smoked out
and shot. Cutting the tree down before it fell, another descended
and ran with such rapidity as to escape the flying bullets. Five
dogs pursued it, and, after a half-mile chase, brought it to bay.
Two of the dogs it killed outright, and crippled badly two others,
before it was dispatched. The third beast was shot and killed as
the tree fell in which it had concealed itself. Bear meat was prized
by some as an article of food. Benjamin Crews had at one time
800 pounds of the meat cured and smoked like bacon, which he
sold for the same price.
The most ferocious beast that roamed the woods was the
panther. The bear, the wolf, and even the deer, would fight
savagely when in close quarters, but each would run from the
hunter whenever it could. The panther, on the contrary, was re-
puted to make battle with man without provocation. Two brothers
by the name of Smith, living in Nineveh, in the early days, went to
hunt straving cattle. They carried no guns, and when night came,
thev made a camp-fire and lav down and slept. During the night
one of them was awakened by a noise, and stirring the fire to a
blaze, he plainly heard a panther leap off through the bushes to an
open space not far distant, where it stopped and lashed the earth
with its tail. Several panthers were shot at Collin's Lick, one by
a man named John Weiss, and under circumstances showing the
narrow risk an unskilled hunter sometimes ran. Weiss carried a
very inefficient arm, and had no experience as a hunter. He went
to the lick to watch for deer, and while hiding in ambush, he
happened to look around and was horrified to see close by, a
panther crouched, ready to spring upon him. Without a thought,
he brought his gun to bear upon it, and through sheer good luck,
shot it dead in its tracks. Weiss never went hunting again.
Near the headwaters of Honey Creek, Samuel and John Bell
were lying in wait at a marsh much frequented by deer. The sun
went clown and twilight was coming on, when Samuel's attention
was directed to an object crawling toward his brother, who was
several yards away. It was a panther, and he knew enough of the
habits of the animal to know it meant mischief. But he was an ex-
perienced hunter, a good marksman and with all, had a cool head
and steady nerves. Taking deliberate aim, he shot the beast
through the head. More hunters, however, got into trouble with
wounded deer than with all the other animals of the country.
John Smilev once knocked one over, and on going to it, it arose to
meet him with " hair turned the wrong way."' Smiley sprang be-
hind a sapling and it made a push at him with lowered antlers.
Laving hold of a horn on either side of the sapling, he held on for
THE PIONEERS. 347
dear life. Round and round both went until wearied with the fruit-
less contest, the buck smoothed its hair in token that his tight was
over, when Smiley let go, and he walked off undisturbed. Joseph
Young, of Union Township, knocked a buck down one day, and
on touching its throat with the knife, it sprang to its feet and made
at him. Young jumped behind a large oak tree and the deer took
after him, but by hook and by crook, he managed to keep the tree
between him and his assailant, receiving no more than an occasional
pick of the horn. After its rage had abated, it gave its antlers a
toss and disappeared in the thicket.
One of the most desperate encounters with a wounded deer was
had by Henry Mussulman. To the throat of a paralyzed buck he
touched his knife, when it gave an unexpected flounce, sending his
knife flying through the bushes. It was a powerful deer, and the
hunter who had his knee on its head and a Arm hold of its antlers
saw at a glance, that his safety depended on holding it down. Of
course there was a struggle, and although the advantage at first
was with the hunter, yet it soon became evident to him that the
animal's power of endurance was equal to, if not greater than, his
own. His knife was lost, and his unloaded gun was leaning
against a tree more than twenty feet away. What was he to do?
Realizing more and more that his safety lay on keeping on top, he
held on in grim desperation. In their struggle a spice bush was
broken, and in the splintered stub he thought he saw a weapon of
deliverance. If he could only put those baleful eyes out, the vic-
tory was his. One after another he broke off the splintered stubs,
and jabbed them into the creature's eyes, till their sight was gone,
after which he left the blind Sampson of the woods to stumble over
the logs and thrash through the bushes in impotent rage, till he
could load his gun and <dve it the death shot.
Another incident in this connection, may be mentioned. Jesse
Wells, an old time settler on the Blue River, who was long well-
known as a Methodist minister, was given to hunting. On one oc-
casion he "creased " a deer, and proceeded to bleed it. Taking hold
of its hind leg to turn it over, the creature came to life, and giving
one tremendous kick, which knocked the knife so far away that it
was never afterward found, the animal leaped to its feet and furi-
ously assailed him. Wells was a lithe, active man, but in spite of
his best efforts to secure shelter behind a large poplar standing
close by, the enraged brute succeeded in piercing his knee with
one of the sharp prongs of its antler. Once behind the tree the
animal abandoned the fight, and disappeared in the forest. Jesse
Wells ever after walked with a stiff knee, which came of the wound
received in that ti^ht.
348 JOHNSON COUNTY.
Thus far have we written, using the masculine //c, /i/'s and him*
almost exclusively- Of course she was there, the sharer in all the
hardships that befell him, and in all his triumphs. But let us enter
the cabin and catch a glimpse of her life. All through the summer
and fall the wife has been as busy as the husband, and during the
winter, if possible, more so. Perhaps the labor of cooking was not
as severe as in this day of greater abundance. Certainly there
was less to cook, and for that matter, less to cook it in. The pioneer
housewife had never seen a cooking stove. If she had a skillet, a
metal oven, a boiling pot or two, a frying pan, a coffee pot, a griddle
and a johnnj'-cake board, she knew herself to be well supplied with
cooking utensils. She baked her loaves and pones and dodgers
in the oven, and her biscuits and slapjacks in the skillet. Her
chunks of venison, back bones and spare-ribs, she roasts in the metal
oven. Into the same vessel she puts her sweet potatoes, Irish po-
tatoes, and, when the orchard comes to bearing, her apples also,
when she wants to bake them. If she wants a pound cake on an
extra occasion, she bakes it in a teacup, set in that oven, or, if a
pie, she slips the plate in which it is made into the hot oven or
skillet. Her boiled dinners came out of the pot much as her grand-
daughter's do to-day; and her chicken pot-pies, the favorite dish at
every house raising and log-rolling, came piping hot out of the
same pot or its mate. Naught came to her larder that she could
not cook to suit the taste of those who sat at her board.
But cooking was to her a minor care. Children were apt to
come in quick succession in her cabin, and they had to be clothed
as well as fed, and upon her fell the burden of their clothing. She
might, or she might not, have to go into the clearing and " pick
trash" or "nigger logs," or "right up" burning log heaps. She
might, or she might not, have to hoe corn and pull weeds or stand
guard in the field to keep the squirrels out; but there was no
escaping the clothing question. She was responsible for the jeans
and the linsey. Her husband sowed the flax and sheared the sheep,
for this was a man's work. If he pulled the flax and washed the
wool he did well, for it was not so certain that this was a man's
work. He broke the flax and peeled the walnut bark with which
the wool was dyed, but there his work ended, unless the weather
was very bad, when he might " swingle " the flax. She washed
the wool and picked the burs out of it, and saw that a part of it
was properly placed between layers of walnut bark in the drying
trough, and then covered with water and left to soak till the ooze
gave it the right color. That done, she dried it and washed it and,
until the carding machines came, hand-carded both the colored and
uncolored, into rolls and spun them into yarn, " sixteen to twenty
THE PIONEERS. 349
cuts a da}', besides the regular housework." If there was an out-
house, the loom was set up therein, but if no out-house, it went
into a corner of the cabin, even if a bed had to be pulled down to
make place for it, and on that loom she wove the web of jeans, the
flannels, the linseys, the tow-linen, and the table cloths, the sheet-
ings, the towelings, the coverlets, not forgetting a web of linen
" seven hundred tine " for her husband's Sundav and court-day
shirts. If she was a good weaver she could weave three yards of
jeans per day and do her housework, and Ave or six yards of flan-
nel or linsev and do her other work.
But the spinning — and I have not mentioned the hackling and
the spinning of flax — and the weaving did not bring her to the end
of her toil. No, indeed; she was the seamstress and the tailoress,
and before the web was finished perhaps, she has had to cut off a
piece for a garment for one of the bovs. Hundreds of mothers in
Johnson Count}' did this. But whether she finished her web before
thus cutting, or after, the burden of cutting and making the clothes
for the family fell upon her. Her husband might patronize the
tailor when it came to cutting and making his Sundav frock coat,
but if his wife was particularly bright, he let her do it. At any
rate she cut and made all his every day clothes; she cut and made
the boys' "dandvs," roundabouts, jackets, "warmuses," trousers
and shirts, and knit all the socks; she cut and made all her own
clothes, and all her daughters', till they grew old enough to help her.
What toil was hers to be sure. There was no season of the year
marking the end of her labors; no days of bad weather gave her
rest. Not even the night could she call her own, for long after she
had put her children to sleep, she darned and patched their frayed
clothes. Even when she visited, she carried her knitting or sewing.
Only when her hand was enfeebled in old age or palsied in death
did she rest. The times were primitive, and fashions underwent
little or no changes for a generation. Every young man of conse-
quence was expected to provide himself with a broadcloth suit for
the event of his marriage, which was to be the suit of his life, and
to last for dry weather and Sunday-wear for many years. If his wife
got a silk dress on that occasion, she was prettv sure to keep it till
she could exhibit it to her grandchildren. "Spring bonnets" and
'•fall bonnets" were unknown. On all ordinary occasions, the
"sun bonnet" was deemed good enough, but in most cabins, es-
pecially of church-going people, there was a box or deep drawer,
smelling of rose leaves, which held among other articles of finery,
" mother's bonnet." It was not the home-made, and it never went
out of fashion, till the dear old head, which it was made to cover,
w as shut out from mortal sight beneath the coffin lid.
350 JOHNSON" COUNTY.
How the times have changed since the days when Johnson
County was being settled! It may be doubted whether there was
a vehicle in the county the first ten years other than the road wagon
or cart. The first carriage taken to Union Township was in 1831,
In those days both men and women walked or rode on horseback,
when making neighborhood journeys. Men's and women's saddles
were unusually conspicuous furniture in the entries and porches of
the cabins of the well-to-do of the earlv davs. Quite frequently,
however, husbands and wives rode double — a practice, when once
begun, that was quite apt to be kept up till the third child was
born. It was inconvenient to ride double and carry more than
two children. Even swains and their sweethearts thought nothing
of riding double.
I have been asked, "How were the cabins of the pioneers
lighted of evenings?" The blazing tire in the large fire place threw
a flood of light all over the cabin and its inmates. Bv the firelight
the family talked, the children cracked nuts or played games, the
mother spun or knit, and the youth of an inquiring mind read in
such books as came to hand. If a better light than the lire-light
was needed, it came from a metal lamp of rude pattern in which
grease sputtered around a burning rag wick, or from a tallow can-
dle. The fire on the hearth stone was an object of more solicitude
in the early davs than in these. If it went out, as it sometimes
did, what would the inmates of the cabin do? Borrow. There
were no matches, and the flint and steel was alwavs the last resort.
There are men living, who, while yet bovs, knew what it was to
trudge through the snow, a half mile or more, to borrow a fire brand
to renew the flame at home. In the summer season a log in the
field or deadening would often be kept smouldering to keep tire in
stock, while in winter the coals and brands would be carefully
buried in the embers for the same purpose.
Allusion has been made elsewhere to the frequency of evening
visits a'mong the pioneers. To light their pathway through the
gloomy forests, the leader usually carried a firebrand, which he
waved back and forth over the path; or, if the night was extremely
dark, he carried a torch made of hickorv bark or of dry oak splin-
ters: though some carried lanterns. A gourd bored full of gimlet
holes and titted with a socket within, to hold a candle, made a lan-
tern that was sometimes seen, though the favorite lantern was the
tin lantern, so aptly described by Longfellow, the poet, in "The
Theologian's Tale":
Pierced with holes, and round, and toofed like the top of a lighthouse,
Casting into the dark a net work of glimmer and shadow.
THE PIONEERS. 351
Much has been said and written of the want of markets in the
earlv days. Perhaps that want has been unduly magnified. The
people had so little to sell that the want of a market could not have
been greatly felt. As late as sometime in the -j-C/s, very little sur-
plus produce was grown in Johnson County. All the corn pro-
duced was fed therein, and there was oftener too little for that purpose
than too much. The tirst market for which there was any substan-
tial demand, was the hog market, and it was not deemed any par-
ticular hardship in those days, to driye hogs in droves to the river
towns. After a few years a little surplus wheat was produced,
and the farmer who hauled to Madison or Lawrenceburg. receiv-
ing 25 cents, 27 U cents, or 50 cents per bushel, found little
profit in it. But for many years there were few farmers who
had more than one wagon-load to spare for the market. The
majority found after setting apart the seed wheat and wheat
for bread, that there was less than a load, and as a conse-
quence, it was quite common for two neighbors to unite their
teams and make up a joint load, and go together to the river town.
About 1S44, the wheat crops of the county began to increase to such
an extent, that its marketing became an object of interest to the
farming community. The railroad from Madison was slowly being
built towards Franklin, and its ultimate completion was anxiously
looked for. Between the 1st and 30th of October, 1846, 14,494
bushels of wheat were bought in Franklin at 50 cents per bushel,
all of which was hauled to Ediaburg. The cars did not reach
Franklin till sometime between the 17th and 24th day of August,
T847.
For many years dressed pork in the county was worth $1.50
and $2.00 per cwt., although it sometimes sold as low as $1.00.
Good work horses were worth from $25 to $50 each; milch cows
from $5.00 to $10.00. Joab Woodruff bought twenty head of one
and two-year-old cattle, when he came to the county, for $50, which
was $2.50 each. Chickens sold for 50 cents to 75 cents per
dozen. Fat turkeys, tame or wild, from 15 to 25 cents each;
butter, 5 to S cents per pound; eggs. 3 to 5 cents per doz-
en: saddles of venison, from 25 to 50 cents; maple sugar, cA 4 ' to 10
cents per pound: coon skins were worth from 20 to 40 cents, de-
pending on quality; deer skins, 20 to 30 cents, but about 1S24 or
[825, Samuel Herriott bought 500 at 6 cents each. Farm labor
was worth from $S to $10 per month, while 25 cents per hundred
was the customary price for cutting timber and making rails. In
1S25, Henry Mussulman made rails for a bushel of meal per
hundred, and the meal was worth 25 cents per bushel. Jacob
Banta paid $3.00 per acre for clearing land eighteen inches and
352 JOHXSOX COUNTY.
under. Corn brought from 10 to 20 cents per bushel; oats, from
S to 12^ cents, and ginseng, 25 cents per pound. This last article
was for many years one of the chief articles of exportation. All
ages and sexes hunted for, and dug, ginseng with great persever-
ance and industry, sure of a certain sale of all they could find, at a
good price for that day.
Foreign stuffs were of high price. Samuel Herriott bought four
pounds of coffee at 50 cents per pound, as he came through Mad-
ison to this county, in 1820, and when George King moved out in
1823. he paid 62 '< cents per pound in the same market. On the
authority of the late Thomas Williams, it may be stated that Daniel
Taylor, the first merchant in Franklin, sold two and a half pounds
of coffee for $1, but the quality is not known. From the books
kept by Daniel Mussulman, of his mercantile transactions in 1S35
and 1836, it appears that prices ruled at that time as follows: coffee,
20 cents per pound; tea, $1.50; pepper, 25; salt, 2]A\ sugar, i2}i
to 1673; indigo, i6}4 per ounce; iron, 10; nails, 9^2 ; sugar ket-
tles, 5 cents per pound: book muslin, 75 cents per yard; calico,
371^ to 40^ cents; flannels, 75 cents, and blue jeans, 37^2; wall
paper (for window shades), 12 J J cents per yard; bed tickings, 30;
domestics, 16^3, and shirtings, 25 cents; tin cups, 6^ each; alma-
nacs, same price; meal sieves. 75 cents: grass scythes, $1; sickles,
62 }4 to 75; wool cards, 37 ', to 43; paper of pins, 12*4; paper of
tacks, 25; foolscap paper, 25 cents per quire; letter paper, 37^;
saddle blankets, $1.50 each; a "Leghorn bonnet,'' $2.25, and
"trimmings for same," $1.43. The natural result of men's sur-
roundings was to foster a spirit of industry and economy. The
scarcity of money and the great difficulty of getting it, made men
thoughtful in spending it. Luxurious living was not thought of,
and extravagant expenditures were seldom indulged. And men
were careful to look after their just dues. Not a few instances ap-
pear in the old records, of claims being filed against the county for
12 y 2 cents, iS3/( cents and 25 cents. It is in memory that a custo-
mer at a store was found on settlement indebted to the merchant in
the sum of 1SI4 cents, and had not the money wherewith to pav.
The merchant wrote a note which the customer signed and after-
ward paid. With the habits of industry and economy appertaining
to the pioneers of this county, there could be but one result. They
improved the county and accumulated wealth, and their well im-
proved farms, and the great material wealth of to-day, are the nec-
essary outcome of all this primitive toil and thrift.
The scarcity of money goes without saying. There was next
to no money in circulation for many years after the first settlements
were made. An era of speculation followed the close of the war,
THE PIONEERS. 353
the evil effects of which began to be felt about 1S19. Then it was
the banks began to weaken, and in no state were the results more
serious than in the new State of Indiana. " The bank of Vin-
cennes, which had become the State Bank of Indiana, with brandies
at Corvdon, Vevay and Brookville," failed, leaving for that day a
large sum of worthless paper in the pockets of the western people.
The money in circulation in Indiana consisted mainly of depreciated
bank bills and silver, mostly of Spanish coinage. The tips, nine-
pences and quarters were kept in circulation till worn out, while
the half dollars and dollars were cut into halves and quarters usu-
allv denominated "sharp shins."
For many years after the state government was organized, its
fiscal officers annually reported the depreciation of the state's money
in the treasury, for which the General Assembly authorized the
proper credit. One such instance occurs in the history of Johnson
Count\ T , and doubtless there were others. >In 1826, the board of
justices allowed John Campbell, the county agent, a credit of 13^
cents for depreciation of money in his hands belonging to the
count}' library fund.
This scarcity of money was not as serious an evil as it may
seem to the reader of the present. The pioneers were less depen-
dent, in a certain sense, than the people of to-day. Almost every
thing that went into the living of the people, was produced in the
country, and out of the .want of money, a system of exchanges
arose, which made its want unfelt. The taxes were next to noth-
ing, and but little money was needed. A man out of debt could
get along quite well with an exceedingly small sum during the
year. The ginseng that was dug by the family was readily bart-
ered for coffee or calico, at 25 cents per pound. His deer hides
and venison saddles, the merchant took likewise in exchange for
" store goods." If he had one horse more than he needed, he gave
it in exchange for clearing and rail making, and the little money he
found in his pocket toward the end of the year, he paid out in
taxes and for leather to make shoes for his family, not forgetting
himself a hat, and once in a long while, his wife a shawl, or an ex-
tra Sunday dress. Many a pioneer has been compelled for want
of the necessary postage, to leave his letter in the postoffice for
weeks. To all the other obstacles that the Johnson County pioneer
encountered, add the scourge of sickness incident to the new coun-
try. For forty years the autumnal fevers withstood the skill of the
physicians throughout central Indiana. These fevers, of both inter-
mittent and remittent types, appeared oftentimes in their most ag-
gravated forms, and occasionally neighborhoods would almost be
depopulated by them.
354 JOHXSOX COUNTY.
The years 1820, 1821, and 1822, were attended by more fatal
sickness in the southern border counties than has ever been ex-
perienced since. "Whole communities in some instances fell vic-
tims to the prevailing diseases. So alarming did the mortality
become, that by an act of the General Assembly passed December
31, 1821, Friday, the 2nd day of the following April, was set apart
as a day for public prayer to "God Almighty, that He may avert
the just judgments impending our land, and, that in His manifold
mercies. He will bless the country with fruitful seasons, and our citi-
zens with health and peace." That same year, 1821, an epidemic
of intermittent and remittent fevers set in during the latter part of
July, in the new town of Indianapolis, and continued until some time
in October, during which nearly every person was more or less in-
disposed, and seventy-two, or about one-eighth of the population,
died.*
The fall succeeding the first settlements in the spring, the
scourge broke out on Blue River, and prevailed to such an extent,
that there were hardly enough well people to attend to the wants
of the sick ones. In the eighteen families living in that neighbor-
hood, two adults, one the wife of Joseph Townsend, and the other,
Richard Connor, died. There were no sawed boards in the place
suitable for making a coffin, in which to bury Mrs. Townsend
( whose death is beiieved to have been the first white person's in
the county), and in the emergency, Allen Williams knocked the
back out of his kitchen cupboard, and with the lumber thus ob-
tained, made a coffin. About the same time a man by the name of
Mills, died in the Whetzel neighborhood, near the Morgan County
line, and his coffin was made of boards hewn with the broad axe
out of wild cherry wood. The same fall Thomas Beeler, while en-
deavoring to found a settlement in the White River bottom, above
the Bluffs, fell a victim to the scourge of the country. Up to 1836,
there was little or no abatement in the malignance of the pre-
vailing fevers. After that time there was a perceptible diminution
of sickness throughout the county, which lasted up to about 1843,
when the tide turned again, and for a period of five or six years, in-
termittents and remittents again scourged the land.
About 1859, tne mst draining tile manufactory was established
in the county, and it marked the beginning of the era of the final
disappearance of the autumnal fevers. Since the wet lands of the
countv have been cleared and drained, a case of fever of the types,
common in the earlv days, rarely is developed.
How to be feared, and how inexpressibly gloomy the sickly
seasons were to the pioneers, their descendents can never know.
* Drake's Diseases of the Valley of North America. 311.
THE PIONEERS. 355
An attack of bilious fever, or of fever and ague, might run its
course in a few days, and the patient be "up and about" again.
Indeed, with the " fever and ague " a great many were in bed only
while the paroxysm lasted. And yet, apparentlv, the most innocent
form of autumnal sickness might at any moment, develop into a
malignant tvpe of disease, requiring instantaneous and the most
heroic treatment, to save the patient's life. One might have two
or three chills in as manv davs, each followed by fever, and there be
no cause for alarm; but if a "sinking chill" set in, the experienced
ones knew how important it was to have medical attention at once.
Unless a re-action could be brought about, the patient's death was
quite sure to occur within a day or two. As soon as the doctor
reached the bed-side of such a sick person, he began at once a
course of treatment calculated to bring about the desired re-action.
Stimulants such as brand}', capsicum and quinine were given in
large doses, and applications of mustard were freely made. In-
stances are given, where, during fourteen hours ioo grains of quinine
and one quart of brandy have been administered before a re-action
could be brought about. On one occasion, a man had a sinking chill,
which was followed by a sweat that lasted two days and two nights.
At midnight a doctor visited him, and among other things, prescribed
a dose of rhubarb. His wife got the medicines mixed, and instead of
the rhubarb, administered 120 grains of capsicum at one dose. The
next morning when the doctor returned, she met him at the gate with
the tears streaming down her face, and lamenting that she was the
unfortunate cause of her huaband's death. After examining his
patient, and lincling that he had passed the crisis, the doctor re-
lieved the wife of her anguish by saving, " Madame, your mistake
has saved vour husband's life."
Doctors' services were hard to secure in the beginning, and the
medicines known to the people, were powerless in bad cases of
sickness. Elisha Adams, who died in the fall of 1823, was visited
by a doctor who came from Columbus. Not infrequently the
doctors themselves succumbed to the prevalent diseases. At one
time, in the town of Franklin, of five physicians, only two, Drs.
Donnell and Ritchey, were able to ride, and so extensively were
their services in demand, that they rode from place to place on a
gallop, each riding daily not less than fifty miles. Judge Franklin
Hardin gives the following graphic description of the condition of
affairs during the sickly seasons:
-•heath numbered his victims by hundreds. The land was
filled with mourning, and the gravevards tilled with the pioneer
death Many persons seemed to die from pure stagnation of
blood in the veins. The doctors, by following the old system, only
23
356 JOHNSON COUNTY.
accelerated the crisis. Active stimulants only were found to be
suitable. A quart of whisky in a night, with large doses of qui-
nine, once more restored life and mobility to the blood and saved
the patient. From the iirst of August to the first of October in
each year, no business requiring labor was set apart to be per-
formed. Sickness was the rule, and business was despatched,
medicines provided and preparations made to meet the sickly sea-
son. After this was over, in any assemblage, one-half the members
at least, wore pale faces. This was the age of quackery and
quack medicines. After the quinine in the shops was used up,
which was often the case before half the sickly season was over,
the people had no remedy except in the use of boneset and gentian.
The sick, therefore, readily fell in with any promised relief. Sap-
pington's pills and others, with big names, heralded by along list of
curative virtues, found a ready sale. Against the walls of every
cabin, suspended from nails, hung two or three dozen small bottles
already emptied of their contents, but with little, if an}- realization to
the sick, of the promised benefit. A cart-load could have been gath-
ered in a day, and such a collection would present to our children now
an interesting and strange display of old curiosities, and form a
long catalogue of quack nostrums."
ft remains to take a glance at the intellectual and moral condition
of the pioneers. We have seen something of the poverty of the
people in general: the intellectual was as great if not greater. Bor-
der life seldom promotes mental activity. The home life of the
pioneer was one of hum-drum toil. The subjects of his thought
and conversation were usually of the commonplace. No newspa-
pers came freighted with the world's occurrences, to stir the pulses
of his life. He knew, and would know, nothing of what was going
on outside of his immediate neighborhood, save as he might hear
from the lips of an occasional acquaintance, or stranger whom he
met from abroad. He had but few books, and read little in those
he had. When he talked it was usually with one whose area of
knowledge was no wider than his own. How utterly dry and dull
and fruitless life must have been to the many in those days. There
was, however, an excepted class. The men who indulged in the
chase could not help being students to some extent of natural his-
tory. They studied the ways of the beasts and the birds. They
learned to read the " signs " in the woods and along the streams,
and became more or less experts in woodcraft. These men be-
came educated in a certain sense, and in old age they, in general,
could talk intelligently and instructively of what they had seen and
learned of forest life.
The early pioneers, unconsciously, perhaps, felt the evil ten-
THE PIONEERS. 357
dency of their surroundings, and longed that their children might
be better. Most of them had been scantily educated in youth, and
all expressed a desire to see their own children have the advan-
tages of the good schooling that had been denied them. In ac-
cordance therewith, whenever the number of children in a neighbor-
hood was enough to fill a school-house, one was provided, and a
schoolmaster employed. Those first school-houses were of the
most primitive stvle, and the first schoolmasters were in general
meagerly educated, but both served their purpose. That first
generation of scholars may not have been as well trained in the
rudiments of knowledge as are their great-grandchildren of to-day,
but the zeal for the cause of elementary training which they de-
rived from their fathers and the poorly equipped schools, they
passed on down the line, and the great-grandchildren are reaping
the benefit to-day.
The inquirer after the facts of the past is constantly reminded
of the exhibition of lawlessness on the part of some at the begin-
ning, and for several years after the county was organized. But it
was mainly confined to lower grade crimes. An examination of
the records of the Circuit Court of the county for a few years after
its organization, discloses a state of society which indicates, at a
glance, something of the moral condition of the people. At the
March term of this court for 1S24, the second term of court ever
held in the countv, of six causes on the docket, four were for bat-
teries and affrays. At the September term of that year of twelve
causes, eight were criminal, five being for batteries and affrays.
At the March term for 1S25, of fifteen causes on the docket, ten
were criminal causes, seven of which were for batteries and affrays.
At the September term of that year, of fifteen causes, eight were
criminal and seven for batteries and affrays. At the March term
for 1S26, of nineteen causes in all, thirteen were criminal, and of
these, eleven were for batteries and affrays. At the September
term for the same year, of seventeen causes on the docket, ten were
criminal, and of these, seven were for batteries and affrays.
At the March term, for 1827, of thirty-seven causes in all, nine-
teen were criminal, and of these, sixteen were for batteries and af-
frays. At the September term for that year, of thirty-seven causes,
twenty-one were criminal, and of these, nineteen were for batteries
and affrays. And so on. The record shows that the fighting and
quarreling prevailed to an amazing extent. The principal business
of the circuit court (and we have no record of what was done by
the justices) was trying cases of assault and battery and of affrays.
In 1S26 there were 173 votes cast at the general election held in
the count}-, and eighteen prosecutions in the Circuit Court for light-
35° JOHNSON COUNTY.
ing, which was one fight to every ninth voter. And yet in the face
of these figures, men whose memories took in the times when they
were being made, were wont to say that " not half the fights in the
county ever got into the courts," and I think their estimate was
about right.
But the reader must not be misled by the figures. The county
taken as a whole was far less given to turbulence than the figures
would seem to indicate. There was relatively but little fighting
done in the country neighborhoods. Most of it took place at the
elections, at the musters, and at the towns. At the first election on
Blue River, which was held at the house of Hezekiah Davison, the
first keg of whisky ever brought to the county was on the ground
in the interest of William Williamson, a candidate for clerk of the
Circuit Court. Being free to all thirsty voters, during the day,
many became intoxicated, after which a promiscuous fight was in-
augurated, during which the combatants beat, bit, scratched and
eouered each other, and wallowed in the mud and mire as was never
known in the county before, and for that matter, for many years
after. On the same da} - at the White River voting place, it is re-
membered that John Doty and Permenter Mullenix had a hard
fight over their respective candidates. Men fought over very triv-
ial matters in those days, but to their credit be it written, they
usually deferred their collisions till they could meet in some public
place, and hence the country neighborhoods were far less pestered
with brawls than the court records would seem to indicate.
Strange as it may sound to modern ears, it is nevertheless true
that men fought for the sport of the thing. It was not uncommon
for a lusty man, who, feeling the effect of a dram of ardent spirits,
and taking pride in his manhood, to challenge the crowd he hap-
pened to be in, and it was seldom some one did not accept his
challenge, when a fisticuff at once ensued. A man vet living, nar-
rated a circumstance to the writer, illustrating in a high degree the
spirit of the times. He was at a log-rolling when one of his asso-
ciates began vaunting his powers. " I can tie your hands behind
your back," said my informant. It was agreed that he might make
the attempt. A rope was brought, and everything being ready,
my informant, who was a large, powerful man, promptly knocked
his man down and tied his hands behind him before he recovered.
It was deemed a good joke. But the lawless element did not have
it all their own way. In truth, the large majority of the people
were law-abiding in all particulars. There were neighborhoods in
which a personal encounter not only did not take place the year
round, but in which no man lived who engaged therein at the elec-
tions or musters. The truth is, a limited number of the people
THE PIONEERS.
359
comprised the rowdy element that engaged in the most of the
brawls. The tines constituted the seminary fund, and Thomas
Calvin, a noted pugilist of the early days, used to say, he " carried
up one corner of the county seminary." The repressing influence
of the law was made to be felt from the beginning, while the senti-
ment of the great majority of the people was unqualifiedly in favor
of order.
With the first comers came the Christian Church. John P.
Barnett, who came to the county in 1S21, was a Baptist preacher,
and rinding others here of like faith, they organized in 1S23 the
first church in the county. Early in the history of Nineveh Town-
ship, a Baptist Church, under the preaching of Mordecai Cole,
was organized at the home of Daniel Mussulman; and when Rich-
ardson Henslev moved into Hensley Township, he carried with
him a Baptist faith, and a Baptist Church was soon planted on In-
dian Creek. In 1S24, the Presbyterian Church, the first in Frank-
lin, was organized, and shortlv after the Presbyterian Church of
Greenwood, and in 1S31, the Presbyterian Church of Hopewell,
and in 1832, the Presbyterian Church of Shiloh in the western edge
of the county. In 1823, the Rev. James Scott, an itinerant Metho-
dist minister, traveling up White River and preaching to the set-
tlers wherever he found them, came to the Bluffs, where he
preached and ultimately organized the first Methodist Church in
the county.
In this review, the social life of the pioneers deserves a word.
Among the brightest pictures that have been handed down to us
from their times, are those representing its social life, and many
persons of to-day, led captive b} - them, long for the return of that
social life, forgetful of the fact that by reason of changed condi-
tions, it would be as much out of place now as would the return of
the wild beasts that then inhabited the woods. The people in the
beginning were dependent on each other. In sickness and in
health, at home and abroad, they felt and realized this dependence.
In sickness, the pioneer's neighbors volunteered to nurse him, and
to plant or plow or harvest his corn, according to the season when
his sickness came. If a doctor was required a neighbor volun-
teered to go after him, and if the sick died, he well knew that his
neighbors would volunteer to dig his grave and lav his body to rest,
and most likely show kindness to his family after he was gone.
The peculiar difficulties attending the labors of the pioneers re-
quired the joining of forces. The men of the neighborhood had
to unite to build their cabins and to roll their logs. It was quite
common to swap work in order that the strength of two or more
might be exerted to a common end. Even housewives not infre-
360 JOHNSON COUNTY.
quently found profit in this kind of combination. In corn planting
time, families frequently exchanged work, and old and young would
drop and cover corn side bv side. In the harvest field, reapers,
cradlers, and binders marched in phalanx across the fields of grain.
Men were wont to "splice" teams when they went to market at a
river town. Now, out of all this interdependence and association,
came sociability. Men and women who are a great deal together
are quite sure to grow to like each other, and to love each other's
society.
But other causes combined to promote sociability. The absence
of newspapers and books promoted conversation. When the winter
weather came and the fire was kindled in the wide-mouthed lire
place, and sent its genial warmth to the remotest corners of the
room, the tongues of those who sat around it were loosened. They
had naught else to do, and so they talked to escape the pangs of their
own inanition. The family circle was in truth the talking circle.
And it was this love of conversation that led to the family visit-
ing that was such a feature of the early times. During the seasons
when the work was slack, neighbors visited each other till " bed-
time," or longer, according to circumstances, and the visits were al-
ways returned.
The social habit manifested itself in divers ways. Saturday was
a day on which men went to the towns, or other central place, to
hear the news. They talked of their crops, of the incidents occur-
ring in the various neighborhoods, and thus was established a habit
that is yet observed, although the cause has long gone by. All
over central and southern Indiana, men frequent the towns on Sat-
urdavs as on no other dav.
SCHOOLS. 36l
CHAPTER IV.
BY D. D. liANTA.
Schools — Early Legislative Acts in Relation to — Examin-
ation and Qualifications of Early Teachers — Primitive
Buildings and Methods — First Schools — List of Early
Pedagogues — Later and More Improved Methods — Pro-
visions of New Constitution — Present School Census —
Flanklin College.
.ONGRESS of the United States, in the month of
April, i*3iQj passed an act to enable the people of the In-
diana Territory, to form a state constitution and to organ-
ize a state government. Five propositions were offered
for the " free acceptance or rejection " of the people,
through their delegates in convention assembled, two of
which related to learning. In the first it was proposed to
grant the sixteenth section in every congressional town-
ship " to the inhabitants of such township for the use of schools,"
and in the fourth, to reserve an entire township " for the use of a
seminary of learning." To the everlasting honor of the members
of the first constitutional convention of the state be it written, they
accepted these propositions in a spirit as broad and liberal as that
in which they were tendered. The constitution they framed pro-
vided that all moneys realized from the sale of school lands should
" remain a fund for the exclusive purpose of promoting the inter-
est of literature and the sciences, and for the support of seminaries
and public schools." And it was further provided that " It shall be
the duty of the General Assembly, as soon as circumstances will
permit, to provide by law for a general system of education, as-
cending in a regular gradation from township schools to a state uni-
versity, wherein tuition shall be gratis and equally open to all."
Whatever may be said of the performance, the promise made
by the new state was as liberal as the most zealous lover of learn-
ing, of that early day, could have wished. The state stood com-
mitted in her organic law to a free school system that should begin
in the district school, and end in the university. But how utterly
impossible it was to carry into immediate effect these commend-
able resolutions. All of Indiana was a savage wilderness, save a
narrow border along the southeastern, southern and southwestern
362 JOHNSON COUNTY.
boundaries of the state. The population was less by nearly four
thousand than the population of Johnson, Shelby and Bartholomew
counties, at the time of the taking of the last census; and the cash
value of all the property in the state was. doubtless, less than that
within any one of the counties named, at the same time. The con-
stitution itself wisely provided that "no lands granted for the use of
schools" should be sold before 1820, the year in which the first
settlers came to Johnson County. As a matter of fact, more were
sold prior to 1S2S, at which time the first legislative act was passed,
authorizing the sale. Prior to that time, the laws authorized the
leasing of the school lands, and in some townships of the state,
thev never have been sold, but are still leased, and the proceeds
turned into the school fund of the townships.
It would be a useless task to present, even an epitome of the
many school laws that were passed from the organization of the
state up to the time of the adoption of the present constitution, in
1S50, when a radical change in educational affairs was brought
about. Whether these laws were wise or unwise, it would be hard
to judge, save from a speculative stand-point, for the funds derived
from the school revenue sources, were in general, so meager that
the maintenance of a district school depended more upon the en-
terprise of the people in nearly every case, than upon the law.
Yet the laws passed from time to time served one most excellent pur-
pose; they pointed out a convenient line of action to the people
who were desirous of maintaining schools, and gave a sanction to
all their efforts.
The first comprehensive school law was passed in 1824. It
provided for three trustees in every school district, a feature that
was kept on foot up to the time of the adoption of the new con-
stitution. These trustees were given authority to examine teach-
ers in reading, writing and arithmetic, the onlv studies mentioned
in that law or in any succeeding, for many years. For thirteen
years the district trustees were the school examiners, and we may
well imagine the character of some of the examinations. Hardly
one in a hundred may be said to have been fitted to conduct a
school, let alone pass upon the qualifications of another before
hand, to do the same thing. We may readily see the course such
an examination would be apt to take if made at all. While it was
not uncommon to meet with trustees who could neither read nor
write, it seldom, if ever, happened that there was not one of the
three, at least, who did not make some claims to elementary book
knowledge. The candidate's hand-writing could be seen of all,
and in the early days a full, round, smoothly flowing hand was
more than half the accomplishment. It opened the store door to a
SCHOOLS. 363
clerkship for the ambitious youth; it was pointed to as a master
qualification in the candidate who was running for public office, and
to the school-master it was deemed an invaluable acquisition. It
is easy to see how the trustees would scan the candidate's chirog-
raphy. They could do this and remain silent. Mentally, they
could admire or criticise, and not subject themselves to criticism in
turn. As to the rest, they talked with the candidate on various
themes, judging of his general fitness for school teaching, from
what he said. If they were not book-learned, they were, at least,
fair judges of men. They could give an estimate of the applicant's
general intelligence, more or less satisfactory to themselves, and
one which nearly always had the merit of satisfying their con-
stituency.
In 1837, the law was so changed that three count} - examiners
were chosen to conduct examinations in lieu of the district trustees
who were to be appointed by the circuit judge of the county. This
system, with modification, principally affecting the appointing power,
continued in vogue up to 1S52. It was unquestionably a step up-
ward. It afforded an opportunity of securing men, qualified to dis-
charge the duty, which was a great deal. But such men were not
always secured, if we may judge from contemporanious history.
Barnabas C. Hobbs, a former superintendent of public instruction
in this state, made application for a license to one of these county
examiners. The only question asked was : " What is the product of
25 cents by 2 5 cents? " "We had then," says Mr. Hobbs, "no teach-
ers' institutes, normal schools, nor ' best methods' bv which nice mat-
ters were determined, and precise definitions given. We were not as
exact then as now. We had only Pike's arithmetic, which gave
the sums and the rules. These were considered enough for that
day. How could I tell the product of 25 cents by 25 cents, when
such a problem could not be found in the book? The examiner
thought it was 6]^ cents, but was not sure; I thought just as he
did, but this looked too small to both of us. We discussed its
merits for an hour or more, when he decided that he was sure I
was qualified to teach school, and a first-class certificate was given
me."
The early laws provided for the erection of school-houses, but
like every other public improvement of that day, the school house
when made, represented the labor of the district applied to the. ma-
terial growing on the ground. Under the law the trustees were
empowered to call out every "able bodied male person of the age
of twenty-one or upwards, being a freeholder or householder, residing
in the school district," one day in each week until the building was
completed. Such person might, in lieu of work, pay in " plank,
364 JOHNSON COUNTY.
nails, glass or other materials," but if he failed to work or pay in
materials, he suffered a fine of 37 }> cents for each day lost. The
law provided further that the school-house should be "eight feet
between the floors, and at least one foot from the surface of the
ground to the first floor, and finished in a manner calculated to ren-
der comfortable the teacher and pupils, with a suitable number of
seats, tables, lights, and everything necessary for the convenience
of such school. These exceedingly general requirements were not
always observed in the building of school-houses. All were not
raised a foot above the earth, nor all eight foot from floor to ceil-
ing, but so general was this last requirement observed in Johnson
County, that the old school-houses, in general, bore strong resem-
blance to each other on the outside.
In the beginning the few houses erected were of the most
primitive style of log cabin architecture. Indeed, some were little
or no better than the hunter's camp. The first school-house built
in the south half of White River Township, was arranged for the
fire to be kept burning in the center of the earthen floor. A
chimney built on four posts planted in the ground, about six feet
apart, and rising to the roof, was intended to carry the smoke
away. The benches were arranged on the four sides of the fire.
Usually the chimney was placed in one end. One house in the
south part of the countv, in very early times, was made without a
window. It was lighted by the door and its very large chimney.
As the children increased in a neighborhood, to a number sufficient
to support a school, their fathers were quite sure to make provision
for one. While thev themselves were, in general, the most meag-
erly educated, they, nevertheless, were anxious that their children
should have good school advantages, and willingly they joined in
providing school-houses. Whether made of round or hewed logs
— whether eight feet between the floor and ceiling, or less, all
school houses (save a few at the very first) had puncheon floors,
capacious fire-places with mud and stick chimneys, long benches
made of slabs or puncheons. Every house had a long window,
made by cutting out a log the full length of one side or end of the
house, beneath which window was the writing table. This was
made by laying a plank on pins, driven with an upward slant into
the wall, or if a plank was not to be had, which was sometimes the
case, by laying smoothly shaved riven boards thereon, or even
smoothly shaved halves of logs.
One of the greatest drawbacks to the efficiency of the pioneer
schools, was the want of competent teachers. This want was felt
in every county in the state with more or less severity. " The
pioneer teachers were generally adventurers from the east, or from
SCHOOLS. 365
England, Scotland or Ireland, who sought temporary employment
during winter while waiting for an opening for business," says
Barnabas C. Hobbs. The southern states furnished their quota,
and western Pennsylvania was not behind any section of equal
area in the number sent forth to become educators of the youth
of the land. While there was one here and there of the early
teachers who was well qualified for the work, the great majority, it
must be admitted, were not. So loud were the complaints of the
inefficiency of the school teachers throughout the state, that they
reached the ears of the governor. In the annual message of Gov-
ernor Noble, in 1833, he thus calls the attention of the General
Assembly to the subject: "The want of competent persons to in-
struct in the township schools, is a cause of complaint in many sec-
tions of the state, and it is to be regretted, that in employing tran-
sient persons from other states, containing but little qualifications or
moral character, the profession is not in that repute it should be.
Teachers permanently interested in the institutions of the country,
possessing a knowledge of the manners and customs of our extended
population, and mingling with it, would be more calculated to ren-
der essential service, and be better received than those who came
in search of employment." And he proposes as a remedy for the
evil the establishment of a seminary for the special training of our
native teachers or the incorporation of the manual labor system
with the preparatory department of the Indiana College at Bloom-
ington.
All sorts of teachers were employed in Johnson County. There
was the " one-eyed teacher " ; the " one-legged teacher" ; the " lame
teacher"; the " single-handed teacher "; the teacher who had "fits;"
the teacher who had been educated for the ministry, but owing to
his habits of hard drink had turned pedagogue ; the teacher who got
drunk on Saturday and whipped the entire school on Monday.
Some are remembered for the excellence of their teaching, and
some for their rigorous government. Some are remembered for
their good scholarship and some for their incompetency. As late
as 1848, teachers were emploj'ed in Johnson County whose license
certified that they could teach arithmetic to the " Single Rule of
Three." While the curriculum of studies was confined mainly to
reading, writing and arithmetic, there were schools wherein no
book was used but the spelling book. There were schools taught
by teachers who did not claim to be able to teach anything beyond
spelling, reading and writing. One such was taught by John
Pruner in the northwest corner school house of Union Township.
Pruner taught two or three terms in succession, and proved himself
an acceptable and popular teacher. The children spelled and read
366 JOHNSON COUNTY.
and wrote in accordance with the custom of the schools of the times.
It came to pass, however, that some of his students wanted to
study arithmetic, and there came a young man to the neighborhood,
Abram Aten, who claimed to be able to teach it. He offered him-
self as a candidate for the school against Pruner, and there was at
once a great commotion in the neighborhood. Should the popular
Pruner be thrown overboard to make room for a man who could
cipher? was the all-absorbing question. A school meeting was held
and the matter was thoroughly canvassed. Nothing could be said
against the character of either candidate, and so the question was
debated upon the square issue of arithmetic or no arithmetic.
Fiery speeches were made extolling reading and writing and John
Pruner on the one side, and reading, writing and arithmetic and the
untried man on the other. A great deal of feeling was evinced,
and it looked at one time as if the district would be rent assunder.
On taking the vote, those in favor of the arithmetic carried the da}'
by two or three majority, and Aten was given the school.
Thomas Lynam was a popular pioneer teacher, but he made no
pretense to a knowledge of arithmetic. One of his pupils, A. B.
Hunter, ciphered through the arithmetic without any assistance
from his teacher.
One of the curious chapters of the times, is the low wages paid
for all manner of intellectual labor. The governor of the state re-
ceived $1,000 per year, a supreme judge and a judge of the circuit
court each $7°°; a member of the General Assemblv drew $2 per
day, and legislated on Christmas and New Year's davs the same as
on any others, except when they happened to fall on Sunday.
Salaries of officers were even less in some of the eastern states.
The governor of Vermont received $750 per annum for his ser-
vices, the secretary of state $450, and the treasurer $400. Minis-
ters, well educated, and of most excellent natural abilities, preached
the year round for $300 or less: nay, the "Rev. Allen Wiley, a
man of varied learning, deep in theologv, strong in faith, and full
of the Holy Ghost, received that year (1830) as his portion of the
sum total, $20. My colleague, Rev. Amos Sparks, a most unique
man, full of goon common sense, of marked eloquence and power
in the pulpit, and popular with the people, received for his portion,
being a married man with several children, $175, a part of which
was paid in dicker."* An unmarried circuit rider of the times,
who was paid $100 per year, was deemed to have been paid a good
compensation.
Small salaries were likewise the rule with teachers. The Rev.
B. R. Hall, the first principal of the Indiana Seminary, at
'Early Methodism in Indiana, p. 19.
SCHOOLS. 367
Bloomington, which was the state school, received a salary of
$250 per year. He was elected in 1823, and when two years
after, the board of trustees elected John M. Harney to the chair
of mathematics and philosophy, one applicant informed the board
by letter that he was "educated in England, and would accept the
situation at a salary of $250 and find his own family." For a
great many years the pay of teachers was in general, kept at the
lowest notch. The first school taught in Hensley Township, was
by Jesse Titus, a "lame school-master," at $1.00 per scholar. This
was in the winter of 1826-27. He could not have had over nine-
teen scholars, which would reduce his compensation to $6.00 per
month. Out of that he paid his board, which cost him $1 per
month. The patrons of his school were all poor men, but anxious
to afford means for the education of their children. John Stevens
had three to educate, and as an inducement to Titus to teach the
school, he proffered to set off the board against their tuition, and it
was done. Ten dollars and $12 per month was quite frequently paid
to teachers in Johnson County during the early days. Indeed, a sub-
scription school of twenty-five scholars, at $1.50 per scholar, was
long considered a well-paying school. The winter schools might
go over this, but the few summer schools taught, so often fell below,
that it was quite customary for the teacher to "board around," in
order to make up the loss as nearly as he could.
In 1844, Anderson B. Hunter taught a school in Waggoner's
smoke house, which had been fixed up for the occasion, for $8 per
month, and boarded himself. In the spring of 1846, he taught for
$14 per month, paying for his board 50 cents per week. A like
condition of things prevailed elsewhere in the state. In Orange
County, a subscription school was taught at " three bits per pupil
for three months." In 1845, schools were taught in that county at
$10 per month. Nor was this peculiar to Indiana alone. In Mas-
sachusetts the school system had reached such a stage of develop-
ment by the year the first settlers came to Johnson Count)', that
the school-districts had been laid off in such a manner that " no
scholar is obliged to walk further than three-fourths of a mile from
the extremity to the center of the district where the school is situ-
ated." Public schools were kept open from three to four months
each winter, and a master was paid " from $10 to $20 per month,"
while a mistress for a summer school was paid " from $5 to $6 per
month."* The wages paid to teachers during the formation period
of our state's history are believed to have been in the main up to
the level of the wages paid in most of the other states during the
same period.
* Nile's Register, vol. 20, p. 10S.
36S JOHNSON COUNTY.
It is much to be regretted that we have no record of the time
when the earlier schools of the county were opened. It would
seem that the time has passed when the information can be supple-
mented by an appeal to human memory. No other query calls
out such a diversity of answers as the one relating to the time and
place of the tirst schools. Inasmuch as a considerable settlement
was established on the Blue River, before at any other point, it
seems reasonable to suppose that the first school in the county
was opened in that neighborhood. In this place a reference will be
made to some of the earlier schools of which we have knowledge,
but without any attempt at a chronological arrangements of them.
In White River Township I have encountered three first schools.
It is claimed that a school was taught somewhere in the south half
of the township, in a log school-house, in which the fire was built
in the center of the dirt floor. The name of the teacher is not
given. It is very certain that Mrs. Samuel Parks, a widow, taught
a school in her own house, sometime after her husband's death,
which occurred in August, 1825. By some, hers is said to have
been the first school in the township. In very early times a double
log cabin stood on the Bluff road between the bluffs and the pres-
ent site of Brownstown. One John Collins, a school-master, lived
in one of the rooms, and taught a school in the other, as early as
1826. It is remembered of him that he owned the land on which
the house stood, and at play-time he made the school children
" pick trash." The labor of the children at the noon hour in the
clearing may have been understood beforehand. I remember a
school which run four days in the week, nor was he required to
call books before 9 o'clock in the morning. Fridays as well as
Saturdays the teacher gave to the cultivation of his corn. Three
of the largest boys of the school, all belonging to the same family,
by some sort of an arrangement between the father and teacher,
worked in the hitter's clearing of mornings, and helped him plant his
corn. They thus earned the money to buy their books and possi-
bly paid a part or all the schooling of the family for that term.
They had a walk of two miles to the master's clearing, and were
always on the ground by sun up. I yet remember the great store
they set by their bright new Eclectic Readers.
A like uncertainty as to the first school taught, we encounter
on entering Union Township. William Bond, about 1832, taught
a summer school in the neighborhood of the present site of Union
village. About the same time, a pole cabin was built for a school-
house, on the west side of George Kerlin's farm, on the Three
Notched Line Road, in which Jeremiah Callahan opened the first
school. In Hensley Township there were three first schools, but
SCHOOLS. 369
the weight of evidence seems to point to the fact that in the winter
of 1826-7, Jesse Titus taught the first school. The log house in
which the school was taught was erected near the present Friend-
ship Church site, and was 16x18 feet, and fronted south. A log
for a window was cut out at the west end, and the sash was filled with
" paper glass." The wide-throated chimney was in the east end,
and under the long window, logs split into halves, and smoothed to
a face, were mounted on a sort of trestle work for a writing table.
The following is the roster of children that attended that first
school: Ephraim Harrell, Gideon and Betsy Stevens, Betsy Har-
rell, Avery, Godfrey, Elizabeth and Nancy Chase; Abram, Daniel,
Permelia and Anna Heethers; Polly, Bloomfield, Roland and
Richard Hensley; Milford, Bluford and William Richardson. The
American Spelling Book was used in that school, and the English
First Reader. Toward the close of the school, six or seven of the
scholars were furnished with copy books, and set to making " pot
hooks and hangers." The succeeding winter, Samuel B. Elkins
taught in the same house, and by some this was thought to have
been the first school. Elkins is said not to have been " very good
in figures, but wrote an excellent hand, and was a good reader and
spelled well," and above all, was a " good hand with young chil-
dren."
In 1824, Aaron Dunham moved from Brown County, Ohio, to
the Nineveh neighborhood, in which there were living at the time,
twelve families. He was an educated man for his time, being a
good mathematician and a good grammarian. I have seen speci-
mens of his hand writing among the files of the Circuit Court, and
I know that he wrote an excellent hand. In November of this year,
Dunham came to open a school in a log cabin, formerly lived in by
William Strain, about one-fourth of a mile northeast of Williams-
burg. This house was furnished with a puncheon floor, split log
benches, greased paper windows and a hewed log writing table,
resting on stakes driven into the earth. The teacher was paid $40
for a three months' school. About twenty scholars attended, of
whom Jeremiah Woodruff, then twelve years old, and still living,
was one. One of the girls, a Miss Dunham, studied grammar, and
young Jeremiah tried it for a day, but his father, Joab Woodruff,
who was the leading man in the community, pronouncing grammar
nonsense, the boy abandoned it. About twenty scholars attended that
school, the following of whom are remembered, viz. : the brothers,
Jeremiah, William and Nelson Woodruff, a Miss Dunham. Benjamin
Crews' three boys, David Twet's two children, William Strain's
two, and Daniel Pritchard's two. Mr. Dunham continued to teach
37° JOHNSON COUNTY.
for many years in Nineveh Township with the approbation of his
patrons, and the loving remembrance of his pupils.
In 1S26, Benjamin Baily taught a school close to the Vicker-
man place in the same township. This school was in a cabin on a
dirt floor. At a very earl} day a school was opened not far from
the present site of Amity, by James Heinaner, who was succeeded
the next year by one named McCloskv. George Adams, yet liv-
ing, attended both those schools and still has the " ciphering book "
he wrote then. He used Bennett's arithmetic, and according to the
custom of the times he transferred the examples to a copy book to-
gether with the processes employed in solving them. In 1828,
Elzy Mathes taught in the Price school-house, three miles north
of Edinburg, a subscription school of three months at $1 per
scholar. During his term the deer annoyed him a great deal by
coming to lick during school hours in the outside chimney corners
of his school-house. The children would give attention to the ani-
mals at the expense of their lessons. Mathes secured two planks
which he so arranged, that by pulling a string that was brought
over to his seat in the school house, as to fall with a great clatter
and bang. Not long afterward the deer, a buck and a doe came,
and Mathes enjoining silence, pulled the string and down came the
planks with a mighty racket and away went the deer never to re-
turn. The master and his school went out and were amazed at the
great leap the terrified buck had taken. It was over twenty feet.
The deer never after, were a source of disturbance to his school,
and as far as I have heard, his was the only school in the county
ever disturbed by them. Austin Shipp, the first student from John-
son Count) - , who ever attended the Indiana Seminary at Blooming-
ton, "taught in 1830, in an old cabin on the Marshal farm three
miles northwest of Edinburg." A log school-house stood on the
Maux Ferry road, a short distance south of the present site of
Furnas' mill, in which Thomas Alexander taught during the winter
of 1827-8.
Coming to Franklin Township, we find that the first schools
were held in the log court house. A cloud of uncertainty hangs
over them. Dr. Pierson Murphy is known to have taught at an
early period in the history of the town, but whether he was the
first may be doubted. Aaron LeGrange attended his school seven-
teen days, which he says must have been about 1825. " I used
Pike's arithmetic. Our other books were anything we could get.
I remember we had Dilworth's spelling book." In the winter of
1829-30, Thomas Graham is known to have taught in the log
court house. John Tracy, a young man of twenty-one years,
SCHOOLS. 371
attended, walking from his father's house, a distance of live or six
miles. Mr. Tracy studied arithmetic. Gilderov 1 licks, who moved
to the town in 1S34 anc ^ began the practice of law, which he suc-
cessfully pursued for over twenty years, turned aside occasionally
during the first years and taught school. Another who is remem-
bered to have taught in the town schools during the earlier years,
was William G. Shellady. " The first school between Franklin and
Martinsville '" was at the present site of the Mount Pleasant Church —
the Byers neighborhood. Joseph Ringland was the teacher, and
after him came Henry Drury, and then a man by the name of
Yitito.
In September, 1825, Thomas Henderson moved from Ken-
tuckv, and settled at Big Spring, now Hopewell. His first inquiry
was for a tract of land to enter, on which was a site suitable for a
school house, a church and a grave-yard, and he succeeded in be-
coming the owner of the tract of land on which these indispensable
adjuncts to every good neighborhood were subsequentl}" located.
In 1829, a hewed log house, 20x30 feet, was erected, the floor and
ceiling of which were laid with whip-sawed lumber. For a few
years this building was used as a church, and for many as a school
house. The first school taught in that house was the same year of
its erection, by John R. Smock. He taught two winters out of
three, one of which he boarded with Simon Covert, at 50 cents
per week. Nancy Henderson taught the intervening winter. In
1833, the people of the neighborhood organized an educational so-
ciety, which, by the terms of the compact, was to continue for five
years, during which two terms per year of five months each were to
be taught, and the patrons were to pay $1.25 per scholar, per term.
This society was kept on foot for three years, during which the
school house doors were kept open for ten months of each year.
Two and a half years Samuel Demaree, a Kentucky school-mas-
ter taught, and after him came a Mr. Ayers, who finished the last
of the three years.
The first school in Pleasant Township was in the Smock neigh-
borhood, at Greenwood. The date is uncertain, but it is believed
to have been as early as 1825. William S. Holman, since become
so celebrated as a statesman and politician, is remembered to have
taught one or more terms of school in the Greenwood school while
a student in the Baptist Institute in Franklin. Clark Township was
late in being peopled, but it is said that a school was taught therein
well up toward the north side, as early as 1828; but of it little is
now remembered.
Thus far have I adverted to some of the early schools of the
county, and it now remains to give a list of such of the early
" 2 4
372 JOHNSON COUNTY.
teachers as have been remembered by their old pupils. This list
is necessarily incomplete, because of the fallibility of memory.
Man}- of these persons taught in more than one school house and
township, and no attempt will be given to localize them. It is as
follows: William Bond, John L. Jones, Sr., Henry Drurv, Jere-
miah Callahan, Henry Banta, John L. Jones, Jr., Matthew Owens,
Charles Disbrow, David V. Demaree, Washington Miller, Asa B.
Nav, Joseph Ravnor. William Lane, Louis Shouse, John Roberts,
Thomas Graham, Piersen Murphy, Gabriel M. Overstreet, A. D.
Whitesides, John Slater, A. B. Hunter, Elijah Harrell, Andrew
Robe, Franklin Hardin, Jacob Fishback, Hiram Jackson, D. Loper,
Joseph Ringland, William F. Johns, Hugh Smiley, Sebastian C.
Fox, Joshua Eccles, Nelson Brock, Elizabeth Sutton, William
Mitchell, Andrew Robe, James Collins, James Abbett, Samuel
Hare, Elisha Hardin, James Wishard, David Todd, Thomas Alex-
ander, Thomas Lynam, E. W. Morgan, Zalmon Disbrow, A. B.
Hunter, William Cotton, James Mullikin, William Jones, Peter II.
Banta, Miss West, Getty, Malcom McLean, William Allen,
Pe}ton B. Culver, Samuel McClain, John F. Peggs, John Colvin,
John Mathes, James Prather, John Abbey, Henry Woodard,
Squire O. W. Garrett, Gaines, Ephraim Hewitt, William
Irwin, William Keaton, Henry House, Cary Slack, Samuel Griirith
and Willet Tyler.
During the first fifteen years of the county's history, school
houses were located with reference to the accomodation of neighbor-
hoods, solely. As the county became settled other considera-
tions began to rule. From 1S35 to 1840, the county was laid off
into school districts, so as to give about live to each congressional
township. White River, which is a third larger in area than a con-
gressional township, was laid off into six school districts, and pro-
vided with as man)' school houses. The Lyons school house was
in the northeast corner, and the Glenn, in the northwest. The
Hughes school house was toward the east side, not far from the
center thereof, while the Low occupied a like position on the
west side. The Dunn school house was in the southwest corner,
while another stood over toward the southeast. In Union Township
there were five houses, one near the center of the township and one
in each corner. Something like this order prevailed in all the
townships.
It will thus be seen that the division was on a geographical
basis, of one house to from seven to nine square miles territory,
and that some school children would necessarily have long roads to
travel. Two, and even three miles were not infrequently traveled,
night and morning, by the little folk of the early day. And when
schools. 373
we remember that the school paths often led through the gloomy
woods the greater part of the way, we may imagine something of
the courage of both parents who sent, and of the pupils who went,
to the early schools. One man remembers that he went a mile
through an unbroken wood. He was eight years old, and used to
run every step to and from the school-house, fearing lest a bear
might overtake him. Another says, that he and his little brother
one morning actually encountered a bear on their way to school, and
that although it fled, they were ever after so afraid that they ran
from home to school and cowered in a corner if they were the first
comers, until others arrived. Two young girls, the daughters of
Peter Whitenack, met a bear on the way to the Hopewell school
one morning a little to the east of what is now known as the Don-
nell hill, and it disputed the path with them b}^ " setting up in it."
The preciptancy with which they turned and fled is easier to im-
agine than describe. When the man with a gun arrived the bear
had gone.
There were no teachers' institutes, no normals, no training
schools in those days. There were no books to be had on peda-
gogics. No " best methods " were inculcated. Every teacher
was left to his own way of doing things in the school-room. Of
course there was great variety in the manner of teaching adopted.
Here were teachers from the Carolinas, from Virginia, from Ken-
tucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New England, Old England, Ireland
and Scotland. Each had his way — a way learned in the country
he came from. The dissimilarity of methods, however, was usually
seen in minor matters. In the graver phases of school life, the
dissimilarities usually disappeared.
A pre-requisite to successful teaching always has been, and al-
ways will be, an ability to govern. In the early days government
occupied a higher place in the teacher's qualifications than it does
in this. In whatever else he lacked he must not in this. It was
for him to make his scholars mind, and the entire catalogue of pun-
ishments were in general at his disposal. The pioneers were a
sturdy, thorough-going set of men and women, who were seldom
content with any half-way measures. The same may be said of
their children, and it may be doubted whether they would have
entertained a feeling of respect for a teacher who would not on oc-
casion, inflict corporal punishment with savage severity. Be this
as it may, the early school-masters ruled with a rod of iron. It was
the custom to whip on the slightest provocation, and now and then
for no provocation at all. An early teacher in Blue River Town-
ship would sometimes drink to a state of intoxication on Satur-
day. On Monday morning he would reach the school-house all
374 joiiNSOx county.
broken up, and sometimes he would switch the entire school before
the noon hour. But there were not many drunken teachers employed
in Johnson County, and the severest teachers were among the most
temperate.
Sebastian Fox, an early teacher in the northern part of the
county, stood at the very head of those who whipped with the
greatest severity. He kept in the school room a green, tough
switch, about six feet long, and he invariably took off his coat and
threw it on one of the joists overhead, before administering his
punishment. He whipped not only for violations of school rules,
but he whipped for laziness and natural dullness. He frequently
whipped till the "red streaks could be seen on a bovs back through
his shirt." He carried his punishments to such a pitch, that his
school at last revolted, and the trustees had to be sent for. Ed-
ward Keene was a young man, almost grown, whom he very much
disliked, and had, on more than one occasion, mercilessly whipped,
as Edward thought, without sufficient cause. One day the boy did
something that inflamed the master, who told him he must take a
whipping or leave school. To the big boy or girl the alternative
of leaving school or taking a whipping was always given in those
days. Keene left, but after consulting with a couple of his mates,
he concluded to return the next day. On his arrival, the school-
master at once pulled off his coat and took down his best switch.
'■ Will you step out and take your whipping," said he. " Yes, if you
are able to give it,"' bravely answered young Keene. At that point,
his two big school-mates, William H. Wishard and Washington
Culver, arose, and proposed to help him out. The whipping was
put off and the trustees were sent for, to patch up a peace.
Not a few instances occurred in the county, in the early davs, of
the larger pupils of the school being driven to open rebellion by the
severity of their teachers. Such an occurrence once took place
at the Hurricane school-house. A teacher named Cottingham,
whipped with a six foot switch ferociously. One day he undertook
to make a stubborn boy cry, and lashed him until the school rose
c// masse and demanded a cessation. In Union Township, a Cana-
dian by the name of Bradley, once taught. He undertook to intro-
duce a new punishment, ljy striking the scholars with a rule on the
open palm of the hand, and on the bunched end of the lingers.
His punishments seemed to the eyes of the larger pupils inhuman,
and once when about to beat a little boy on the ringer nails, the big
boys interfered. They told him he might whip the little one on
the back and they would say nothing, but he could not beat the ends
of his fingers: and Bradley wisely forbore to ever after whip, save
in the orthodox way.
schools. 375
Sometimes the school-master's discipline took a humorous turn.
On one occasion, Andrew Rabe, who was an exceedingly strict
school-master, but a very popular one nevertheless, went to his
school and discovered that something had been going on out of the
usual order, but what, he could not divine. At the noon hour he
learned that two of the big boys had fought that morning, and that
one of them had received a bloody nose. Immediately, on " calling
books," the teacher, in accordance with his custom, impanelled a
jury and proceeded to try the accused. Three big boys were
selected to try the case who were acceptable to the accused. The
teacher sat as judge and prosecutor, and saw that the evidence
was properly introduced. But the jury hung. Two of the jurors
voted guilty, affixing the proper punishment, but the third stood
out for mercy. He insisted upon a verdict of "not guilty," but was
willing to affix to it, "if they ever do it again, each to have twenty-
live lashes well laid on."
The judge and prosecutor was equal to the occasion. There
could be no failure of justice in his court because of a stubborn
juryman, and so without further ceremony he was set aside and
another put in his place. The new man was a brother of one of
the accused, but kinship was not a disqualification in that court.
The parties on trial, however, were consulted, and agreed to the
substitution, and the record was thus kept straight. Thereupon
the new jury retired, and promptly returned a verdict of guilty,
with " five good licks apiece." The inevitable question followed:
"Will you take your whipping or leave school?" One of the par-
ties, now a venerable man, who has for many years wisely adminis-
tered the law as a justice of the peace in his neighborhood, after a
few moments' thought, said he could not afford to leave school just
then, and gave his back to his master's use. Rabe was a good
whipper, and it is said he got all the good there was to be had in
the five strokes on that occasion. Turning to the next victim he
put the same question of going or staying. This young man was
not so sure. His mind was not made up. He did not much like to
leave school, but he liked less to take the whipping. He had about
made up his mind to leave, when the thought occurred, " What
will father say? " " Go," said he to that very brother who had sat
as a juror and approved the sentence, "go and see what father
says." He went, and presently returned with these words: " Father
says if you come home he will give you the all-firedest licking you
ever had." That settled it. He, too, stood out on the floor and
let Andrew Rabe tip-toe it on five of his best, and there was no
more fighting in that school.
But whipping on the back with a switch, and on the hands and
376 JOHNSON COUNTY.
fingers with a rule, were not all the punishments inflicted. The
early school-masters were ingenious in devising novel modes of
torture for their children. One school-master habitually pulled the
ears of refractor}' pupils. Sometimes one ear, after a manipula-
tion at his hands, would puff up to double its natural size. The
"dunce block" and the "fool's cap," were in every school. Some
teachers kept a " leather spectacles." I remember to have seen
two boys alternately tie on each other the "leather specs," in
the meanwhile dancing and crying in rage. I once saw a teacher
incarcerate quite a big girl for some mischief, "in the hole under
the floor." I will never forget how he pushed her fingers off the
unmoved puncheons at the sides, when he closed the lid over her.
Making a pupil stand in the corner or by the side of the teacher,
or on one leg, were favorite modes. If a boy was particularly
bashful (which was not often the case) he might be seated between a
couple of girls with admirable effect. " Bringing up the switch"
was another mode. An idle child would be startled out of a doze
by the switch dropping at his feet. "Bring up the switch!" would
be the stern command, and there was no escape. The idler must
cany the evidence of his subjection to the master, in the presence
of the whole school.
How often have I seen a teacher rush up to an idler, or mis-
chief-maker, and strike him over the back and shoulders with all
his might and main. Boxing a child's ears with a closed book or
the open hand was quite common with some. I remember once an
edition of the elementary spelling book, bound in wooden backs.
The wood was exceedingly thin, of course, and split so easily that
a blow with a book over a child's head would shatter the back into
splinters. After the backs of two or three books had been ruined
by the teacher, the children made such an outcry over the mutila-
tion, that the teacher ceased their use altogether as instruments of
punishment. I have seen teachers kick their pupils; have seen
them attach split quills to their noses; bumb their heads together,
and one old teacher kept a short rod of whalebone, which had the
merit of never wearing out.
In these days teachers were careful to seat the boys and girls
on different sides of the house. This was the custom at church and
at the dinner tables. In no case were the school children to sit to-
gether, except for punishment. Nor were they allowed to play
together. I remember one school-master who was so strict in this
particular that he established an east and west line, which ran
from the spring through the middle of the school-house, on the
west side of which, in the house, the girls sat, and out of doors
the}- played. On the east side, within, the boys sat, and without,
schools. 377
played, and the rule was not deemed an unreasonable one by his
pupils. It was the custom in that school, as in a good many others,
throughout the count}-, for the children to be seated in the order
of their arrival in the morning. The first arrival sat at what the
teacher chose to call the head. The next arrival sat next to him,
and so on in order to the last. The only advantage to the scholar
arriving first, was that he recited his lesson first. There were few
classes, save the spelling class, in the old schools. In the beginning,
Dilworth's spelling book was used, and after that came " Webster's
American Spelling Book," and that in time was succeeded by the
" Elementary Spelling Book " by the same author, which held the
field against all rivals for more than twenty-five years. The old
school-masters placed great stress on spelling. Twice a day the
whole school stood up and spelled " for head." A half-day in
every week was given to the spelling match. Night spelling
schools were of frequent occurrence. Every scholar was kept ham-
mering away at the spelling book as long as he went to school, and
there were few schools in which one or more pupils had not the
book by heart. The words in the elementary spelling book were
written rythmical!)-, and it was no hard matter to commit by rote
whole columns of words. This book was used as a reader also.
In some schools, after a pupil had learned to spell sufficiently well,
he was set to pronouncing the words in the book at sight. After
he was able to readily pronounce all the words in the book, he was
deemed sufficiently advanced to begin reading. The elementary
spelling book served the purpose of reader.
" She fed the old hen.
The old hen was fed by her.
See how the hen can run."
This was the first lesson. After the book had been read
through a half dozen times, another was in demand. There were
few, or no, readers, accessible. A few copies of the "English
reader," or of the " Columbian," might be had, but in general, such
books as could be picked up in the neighborhood, were used. The
" Life of Marion" was not an uncommon school reading-book in
those days. Histories, the Pilgrim's Progress, "dream books,"
and even sermon books, were used. The Bible and the Testament
were very common. About 1835, B. P. Emerson's readers came
into use, and his " third class reader " was often met with in the
schools of the county. About five years after, McGuffey's Eclec-
tic series appeared, and ultimately occupied the field, to the ex-
clusion of all others. The introduction of the eclectic series
marked an era in the schools of the county, and they were of in-
calculable advantage to the people of the western country.
37§ JOHNSON COUNTY.
It was the custom in those days for a pupil to study one thing at
a time. I have already adverted to the practice with regard to the
spelling book. The pupil was kept in that till he could pronounce
all the words it contained, at sight. He might have actually learned
in the meantime to read fairly well, but the teacher would ignore
his acquirement. He must go through the spelling book in the
manner I have indicated. After that he was set to reading, and
thence on, that was his chief studv. He continued to spell, it is
true, as long as he went to school, but until he finished his
course in reading, his two or four lessons a day were reading
lessons. During the interval his teacher might consent for him
to take a copy book to school and learn to write. Learning to
write was a very simple exercise in that day. The copy book con-
sisted of a few sheets of foolscap sewed together. The teacher
made and mended all the pens. This work he usually did while
hearing a boy or girl read a lesson. The pen made, he wrote a line
of pot hooks, or a, b, c's, or a sentence for the pupil to reproduce,
on the lines below. Whenever, in the judgment of the teacher, the
scholar could read and write well enough, he was permitted to fetch
an arithmetic and slate, and begin to cipher. Pike's Arithmetic
was the one generallv used in the beginning. This book consisted
of "sums" and "rules." There were other arithmetics to be met
with, however. I have heard of Dilworth's, and Smiley's, and
Bennett's, as being in use. There were few definitions, and no
methods given. The scholars recited no lessons in arithmetic, no
matter what book he used. He committed the rules and multipli-
cation table, and " worked the sums." When he failed to get the
true answer, he went to the teacher, who " worked the sum " for
him, and if not too busv, explained the process. A bright boy
might stud}' arithmetic for weeks, and the teacher never give him
a word of instruction.
The practice of pursuing one study at a time doubtless had its
advantages. The course of studies was so limited that it was well
for a scholar to have one fairly learned before beginning another.
The same plan was pursued in the only college in the state. In
1828, Doctor Andrew Wylie was elected president of the Indiana
College at Bloomington, and into that institution the learned Doctor
introduced a like practice. The student therein studied languages
and nothing else, until he had completed the language course:
mathematics and nothing else, until he had completed the mathe-
matical course, and so on. But the plan has long since given way
in both college and common schools to what is now considered the
better one of " mixed courses of studies." Whatever the faults of
the modern method, the old was faulty in this: scholars were some-
SCHOOLS. 370
times kept back to an unwonted degree. The writer could read
so as "to make sense of his reading" before his teacher allowed
him to read in school; he could write a hand that could be read, and
read writing readily before his teacher allowed him to write after
a copy in school; he learned to read numerals, add, subtract, mul-
tiply and diyide in short diyision before his teacher would recognize
his slate. Indeed, he ciphered in school for two weeks before his
teacher showed him any attention. And there were many others
who in some sort went through a like experience.
A picture of the early school days in the county would be in-
complete without an allusion to the efforts of the old masters to
teach good manners. There was a yast deal of bowing and cour-
tesying (crutcheying it was called) in the early days. Every boy
had to doff his cap and bow to the assembled school, on entering
in the morning, and every girl had to make her courtesy. In some
schools every pupil, on re-entering the school-room after going out,
had to go through a like ceremony. In some, the children were
required, on the entrance of a visitor, to rise to their feet and salute
him by bow and "crutchey." Some teachers, on entering the
school-room, would bow to their scholars, thus teaching them by
example. John R. Smock, an old-time pedagogue, before dismiss-
ing school in the afternoon, had his scholars collect their belongings
and march out of the school-house, and form in line with the tallest
at the head, and by his side, the next tallest, and so on, down to
the very least, who stood at the foot, when they awaited his com-
ing to the door. While the line was forming, he covered the tire
with ashes and righted the room, after which he appeared at the
door, when all hats, including his own, were doffed, and after an in-
terchange of formal bows and " crutchies," the little folks broke ranks
and scattered for home. It is remembered that one very cold
evening a big boy refusing to wait for the fire to be covered and
the bowing to be done, left for home. The next morning the
teacher called him out and inflicted such a severe punishment that,
no matter how inclement the weather, he never after failed to re-
turn his master's bow from his place in the line.
It was the rule in those days for all scholars to be "loud
scholars."' The silent schools were few and far between. The
odds in the argument were believed to be in favor of the loud
school. The man who can carry on a train of abstract thought,
amidst noise and confusion, has a great advantage over one who
must seek privacy and quiet. The business man must learn the
secret, and so must the lawyer. All the old school-masters had it.
Franklin Hardin, it is said by his old pupils, " could hear a class
recite, work a sum in arithmetic and keep one eye on the school,
3 So
JOHNSON COUNTY.
all at one time." Charles Disbrow could hear a class, make a pen,
and watch the school at once. " A celebrated Scotch teacher,
Alexander Kinmont, of Cincinnati, as late as 1837, would conduct
a school bv no other method. He claimed that it is the practical,
philosophical system, by which boys can be trained for business on
a steam-boat, wharf, or any other place." And so the schools in
Johnson County were very generally loud schools. The boys
and girls spelled and read oftentimes at the tops of their voices, and in
favorable days the noise of their lesson-getting could be heard
half a mile off.
How incomplete this review would be without some reference
to the school sports of the pioneer days. The boys played with a
dash and vim worthy of imitation yet. No half-acre or acre school
lots bounded their play grounds, for hardly a school-house that did
not stand in an unenclosed woodland of from forty to many hun-
dreds of acres in extent. Every sport was calculated to call for the
utmost endeavor of the player. The races run in " prisoner's
base," sometimes covered miles. There was " cap ball " for the
little boys — a game of short, quick dashes, and admitting of bois-
terous talking and hallooing by all at once. The leading games
for the larger boys were " cat," " town-ball " and " bull-pen." The
first two were played with the bat and ball, and out of the second
has come our modern base ball. The third, " bull-pen," was the
best pioneer game. It had an element suggestive of warfare in it.
To become a proficient player in " bull-pen," required a quick eye,
physical activity, speed on foot, good bottom, nfanly courage, good
throwing powers, quick perception, good judgment, and last, but
not least, the ability to maintain one's position in the innumerable
arguments that were sure to arise in the course of the game, for
there were no umpires in those days. How earnestly the pioneer
boys would debate questions on the play ground, and how apt were
they to come to blows before a conclusion was reached. The
moral sentiment of the country took high ground in the early day
against turbulence, and the teachers labored to repress it among
their scholars. The fathers and teachers, too, would tight on small
provocation, but every effort was made to repress the tendency
among the bovs, but, in spite of it all, the boys were quite often as
quick to assert their manhood as the testiest father or school-master
in the countv. The usual thing when a fight took place in school,
was for the teacher to whip both combatants by way of punish-
ment, but there were instances when whipping carried with it no
repressing tendency. A ^Yashington County school-master had
two boys who, disliking each other, often fought to the teacher's
great annoyance, but without a decisive victory attending the
SCHOOLS. 38r
banner of either. Both had been punished time and again by the
teacher without avail. The usual fight occurring one day, the
teacher bethought him of a new scheme. He cut a bundle of
good switches, and bade the boys stand up in the school-room and
switch each other till one cried " enough"! The temper of the lads
was yet up, and they were not sorry of the opportunity given to still
further punish each other, and so they tell to with a will and kept
at it till one under the pain cried out the word, and the switching
ended. Ever after there was peace between those two boys.
An old student of Franklin Hardin, says that quite a number
of large boys and voung men attended his school, many of whom
would fight with each other on the slightest provocation, to the
great vexation of their teacher. Hardin always played with his
scholars, which, indeed, was the custom with nearly all the school
masters of the early day, and he was thus ever present to quell dis-
turbances on the play ground. The turbulence of the young fel-
lows greatly annoyed their teacher. Hardly a day passed that he
was not called upon to exercise his office as peace maker. There
came a time, however, when he wearied in well-doing. Two lusty
boys, ringleaders in all quarrels, disagreed for the tenth time, and
showed right. " Boys," said the teacher, " we have had enough
of this, I think you had better now settle it once and for all. You
may tight it out, and I will see to it that there is fair play." " Here,"
to the bystanders, " let us form a ring and see it out." The prop-
osition was no less unexpected than novel. The ardor of the lads
cooling down they concluded not to fight. After that the practice
of lighting fell into neglect in that school.
Among the other school practices in the early days was the one
of " turning out," or '• barring out the master." This occurred at
Christmas time, and the event was usually not less enjoyed by the
teacher than his scholars. The custom was for the big boys to bar
the school-house door against the entrance of the teacher, and keep
him out till he agreed to furnish a treat, usually of apples, for the
school. Sometimes cakes and cider were furnished, and in some
parts of the state whisky, even, was demanded, but I never heard
of a Johnson County teacher treating his scholars to any thing
stronger than cider. Of course the teacher resisted — there would
have been no fun else, and sometimes by superior skill or strength,
he managed to make his way into the school house, when the
victory was his. In the effort to do so, it was allowable for the
scholars to seize his person if they could, when, if he still held out,
they might tie him and earn' him to a neighboring creek and cluck
him till he promised the treat. Not many teachers held out thus
far, but instances have been known, when, after cutting a hole in the
382 JOHNSON COUNTY.
ice, teachers have been immersed once — nay, twice, and held under
till they were glad to give in. All this, be it remembered, was
done in fun and taken in good part bv the teacher, who held no
ill-will against any one on account thereof. Instances, it is true,
have occurred in the county, where the effort of the scholars to
force a treat was resisted in good earnest by the teacher and bad
blood followed, but the general rule was otherwise.
Many amusing stories are told of turning the teacher out. On
one Christmas occasion, William Surface's scholars barred the
school-house door against him. On reaching it he demanded en-
trance, which, of course was refused, unless he would agree to
treat. He declined, however, to answer to an oral proposition.
" Some dispute," he said, " might arise, as to what was said," and
so he demanded that a written proposition be presented to him. It
was done, and pen and paper passed out to him with it. Beneath
the boys' scrawl he wrote:
" I except to the above proposition.
William Surface,"
and passed the writing back. The boys were satisfied, and at once
admitted the master. " You had better read with care what I have
written," said he to his scholars. " It is one thing to accept a prop-
osition, and quite another to except to it." The boys acknowledg-
ing that the tables had been turned upon them, the teacher im-
proved the occasion, " Were I sure," said he, " that you knew not
the difference between the meaning of the words, I would be
ashamed of vou. I think vou do, but your carelessness is not much
less reprehensible, than your ignorance would have been. Unless
you mend your ways in this respect, you will be fleeced all through
life by every scoundrel who meets vou." The treat followed the
lesson, and all was serene in that school.
A teacher by the name of Groves, who taught in the early day,
in the northern part of the county, was barred out one Christmas
morning. Living in a cabin hard bv, he called on his wife to assist
him. The weather was extremely cold, and it occurred to him that
if he could drown out the school-house fire he could freeze out the
meeting, and accordingly ascended to the top of the chimney, and
his wife, handing him up buckets of water, he poured it down into
the fire-place. But the effort was in vain. The boys raking the coals
upon the ample hearth defied him. He next thought to smoke
them out, and to that end laid boards over the chimney top; but
the boys had thought of that contingency and were provided with
a long pole with which to remove the boards. The teacher,
not to be outdone, replaced the boards, and calling upon his wife,
who entered with spirit into all his plans, had her mount the roof
SCHOOLS. 3S3
of the house and take her seat upon the chimney top, while her
lord went below to be ready to enter the house as soon as the boys
should leave it. Once more the youngsters resorted to the pole,
and with such vigor did they heave at the obstruction above, that
they not only removed the boards, but upset the dame, who, at the
risk of limb and life, came tumbling to. the earth. The obdurate
master, abandoning all hope of taking the fortress by direct
attack, sat down before it in siege. As the girls and younger
scholars arrived that morning, he sent them to his own cabin, where
his wife, turning school-mistress for the occasion, kept watch and
ward over them. The " stars fought for Sisera" that day. Nature
asserting her claims, one by one the garrison had to go out, and
each one became the captive of the besieging master, w ho, march-
ing him off in triumph, left him under the charge of the madame.
Bv the time for dismissing the school in the afternoon came around,
every bov had been taken in, and the school was in full blast in the
master's cabin.
He who investigates the history of the common schools of John-
son Count}- during the early years of its existence, cannot fail to find
evidence of their growth in usefulness as he goes over the ground.
The growth may not be very marked, taking one year with another,
but the evidences of it are to be seen nevertheless.. There is an
influx of better teachers and of better methods. Geography is in-
troduced into the schools quite generally, and also the study of
English grammar. In geography, Olney's and Smith's are the
books in general use. Murray's grammar was the first, but it was
soon superseded by Kirkham's and Smith's. New arithmetics took
the place of the old, first Smith's, and next, Ray's, and a series of read-
ing-books. McGuffey's Eclectic, was by degrees introduced into
every school. A partial uniformity in text-books was attained, and
this allowed to some extent, the organization of classes. Elsewhere,
reference has been made made to the eclectic series of school
books as potent factors in the advancement of the schools of the
county.
There was another factor deserving of mention in this connec-
tion. In 1S37, the "Indiana Baptist Manual Labor Institute" was
opened to students in Franklin, and, notwithstanding the fact that
poverty hung like a cloud over the infant institution, it was so
managed as to keep its doors open to the youth of the land in
search of opportunity for achieving a higher education. Doubt-
less, its work seemed of little consequence to the general run of
people of that day, but looking back from our "coigne of vantage"
now, we see that Johnson County reaped a rich reward from the
infant college, even then. Numbers of young men, attending the
institute in its early years, went forth to teach in the district schools
384 JOHNSON COUNTY.
of the county. They took with them not only a knowledge of the
rudiments of the elementary English branches, but they taught in
such a spirit of enthusiasm as to implant in the minds of their
scholars far higher ideals of education, than had been the case be-
fore. They did much to leaven the lump and prepare the people
of the county for what was to follow. The people of Johnson
County have done well by Franklin College, the lineal successor of
the institute, since that day, but what they have done has been less
a beneyolence than the payment of a first debt. How much is
owing to the colleges of the country by the beneficiaries of the pub-
lic schools, in general, we are slow to concede. But in the blessings
brought to the people of Johnson County by the Eclectic school-
books, and by the masters sent out by the Baptist Institute, we
have the lesson brought home to us. The books were prepared
and perfected by the professors who taught for their daily bread
in the Miami University, and the old Cincinnati College.
In this place it may be proper to refer to the old county semin-
ary at Franklin. By an act of the legislature of February 4, 1S31,
every county was authorized to establish a seminary in which a
higher education than the common schools afforded, was to be
taught. Under this law steps were taken looking to the establish-
ment of such a seminary in Franklin. A two-story brick building
was begun about 1840, and finished in the summer of 1S42. But
no school of the kind contemplated by the legislature was ever es-
tablished therein. In September, 1842, the Rev. William Sickles,
a Presbyterian clergyman of the town, began a subscription school
in the new seminary building, which continued for a year. After
him, two young women, the Misses Atell and Merrill, taught for a
brief period. Afterward, it was used by the Methodist congrega-
tion of the town as a preaching place for a year or two, and ulti-
mately the county sold the building, and it was turned into a private
residence.
In 1850, a convention was called to frame a new constitution for
Indiana. Two college professors were members of that conven-
tion when it assembled, one of whom was John I. Morrison, who
represented Washington County, and who was made chairman of
the committee on education. He had quite recently been a pro-
fessor in the Indiana University at Bloomington, but had returned
to his old home in Salem, where he had long been principal of the
Washington Academy. Professor Morrison was at heart a thor-
ough-going free school man, but he did not believe that free schools
in Indiana could ever be successfully inaugurated, without such a
systematic organization of all the school forces, as could only come
from a state department of education. To that end he framed a
resolution proyiding for the oflice of a state superintendent of edu-
SCHOOLS.
3»S
cation, and presented it to his committee; but his committee
promptly rejected it. Thereupon, with a courage worthy of all
praise, he presented his resolution to the convention itself, which
not only gave him a patient hearing, but approved of his proposi-
tion and framed it into the new constitution. The office of super-
intendent of public instruction was thus provided for, which meant
systematic organization, equality of means and uniformity of
methods throughout the state. It required many years to put the
department in full command, but the fact has been accomplished.
During the years that have come and gone since 1851, the pub-
lic schools of Johnson County have steadily grown in usefulness
and public favor. The public school fund has been constantly aug-
menting; courses of study have been greatly enlarged; uniformity
in text-books and consequent classification of pupils has become a
fact, and schools are kept open, free to all, and within convenient
distance to all, from not less than five to eight months in the year.
In addition to all this, a system of township graded schools has
been established, wherein a higher education may be had than is
taught in district public schools. One of these is in the center of
White River Township; one at Trafalgar, in Hensley; one at Will-
iamsburg, in Nineveh; one at Hopewell, in Franklin, and one at
Whiteland, in Pleasant. To these add the city schools of Franklin,
and the Edinburg and Greenwood schools, wherein more extensive
courses of studies are introduced and taught, and we have an edu-
cational system in active operation in Johnson County, which is the
pride and glory of its people. The following table, presents a view
of the condition of the schools of the count}' at this time :
Enumeration of
Children, 1S88.
No. of School-
Houses.
Value of School
Property.
682
407
487
409
408
508
45i
393
232
1 1
10
10
12
9
1 1
9
9
7
$7,500
8,75°
5,400
Nineveh Township
Clark Townsh ip
S.ooo
7,000
9,000
Totals
3,977
SS
$69,150
1,257
694
2 75
3
1
$311,000
ll.OOO
Totals
2 226
5
$54,000
69, 150
$i-.;,i5°
386 JOHNSON COUNTY.
Whole number of children in the county within the school age 6,203
Whole number of pupils enrolled in 1SS7 4.0S.S
Whole number school-houses 93
Total value school-houses and grounds "$123,150
FRANKLIN COLLEGE.
This sketch would be incomplete without some reference to
Franklin College. Early in the history of the state, the leading
men of the Baptist faith saw the necessity of founding a school of
higher education, which should be under the control of their de-
nomination. In 1834 the hrst steps were taken looking to that
end. A meeting was held in Indianapolis, of Baptist ministers and
laymen, and an educational society organized, the chief purpose of
which was to " establish one or more literary or theological sem-
inaries." At the third meeting of the society, held at Indianapolis,
in January, 1835, the plan for a college was so far developed that
four places were selected from which to receive bids, two in De-
catur County, and the others at Indianapolis and Franklin. In the
following June, the location was made at Franklin, and the " In-
diana Baptist Manual Labor Institute," was formally established on
paper.
This was the age of manual labor schools. About this time
Hanover College was staggering under a name indicative of the
manual labor carried on in shop and held bv the youth who went
there in quest of knowledge: and during the same period, not a
few of the legislators of the state sought to graft upon the state
college at Bloomington something of the same sort. The reader
of the Senate and House journals for 1830 up to 1S40, will find
many resolutions and reports referring to "glebes" and "farms"
and "Fellenberg" and " Lancastrian" svstems of education in con-
nection with the Indiana College. It was in the air, and the foun-
ders of Franklin College could not well help beginning with a
Manual Labor Institute.
In 1837 a frame building was completed on the chosen site, at
a cost of $350, and a school seems at once to have been opened
therein by the Rev. A. R. Hinckley. In 1843, a large and com-
modious brick building was begun, but was not completed for four
years. It is what is known as the North Building. The year fol-
lowing its beginning, the Manual Labor Institute, bv a legislative
enactment, gave place to Franklin College, and soon thereafter the
Rev. G. C. Chandler became its first president, who served as sucti
* I am indebted to H. I). Voris, superintendent of schools of the county, for the fore-
going figures.
SCHOOLS. 387
up to 1849, when he resigned, leaving the college without a presi-
dential head, for a period of two years. These were years of
gloom for the college and its friends. The institution was in debt,
and liable to be sold on execution. But its friends rallied, the debt
was paid off, and in 1852, the Rev. Silas Bail}', D. D., an able man
and a profound scholar, was elected to the presidency, and a new
and brighter chapter in the history of the college was entered upon.
Within a few months after the Doctor had signified his acceptance,
a new building, the counterpart of the one of 1S43, was projected
and under way. Its corner stone was laid by Judge F. M. Finch,
in the presence of the college, and a large number of the citizens of
the town, during the spring session of 1853, and the building was
completed in about one vear from that time.
Like every other college in the state, Franklin knows the dis-
advantage that comes of poverty. As early as 1842, a plan of
raising an endowment was submitted, and man}' times since the
plans have been put forth having the same end in view. But
only a college man can realize how painfully slow the work of
building up an endowment progresses. By 1853, a scholarship en-
dowment of $60,000 was subscribed for, but for some reason the
subscription proved of little advantage to the institution. The
larger part of it was never collected. Dr. Bail}' continued to exer-
cise the office of president up to 1S62, a period of ten years, when
failing health obliged him to resign, shortly after which the college
doors were closed. All the boys save two lame ones went to the war.
For three years the school was abandoned. IniS67, Professors
William Hill and Jeremiah Smith, opened a private school, which
they continued with success, up to 1S69, when the board of trustees
once more took possession, and the college was put on its feet. A
corps of teachers, with the Rev. W. T. Stott as " acting president,"
was put in charge. The next year, the Rev. H. L. Wayland,
D. D., was elected president. " Vigorous efforts were now made
to so present the needs and importance of the college, that the Bap-
tists of the state would raise at least $100,000. After repeated efforts,
President Wayland became discouraged and resigned. The board
had incurred a considerable debt in repairs, and in advancing the
pay of instructors, and so, in the early part of 1872, the college
property was taken to secure the debt," and further work was
abandoned.
This was the darkest hour in the history of the institution. The
admirable work done under President Baily's administration had
endeared it to the love of the young men who had been its students
under him, as well as to the thousands of its friends throughout the
state.
25
388 JOHNSON COUNTY.
For several years the friends of the college had been hampered
in their efforts to build it up, by a sentiment of hostility, on account
of what was deemed its unfavorable location. In proportion as the
peril increased, the clamor on account of location increased, and for
a time it seemed as if the college would tro down altogether, or be
moved to some other place. To avert the impending calamity, a
joint stock association was organized, mainly of citizens of Johnson
County, who promptly subscribed $51,175, and the institution was
once more free of debt. The Rev. W. T. Stott was then elected
president, an office he still holds, and a full faculty gathered about
him, since which the work of education has gone on with the regu-
larity of the seasons.
The work of increasing the permanent endowment of the col-
lege has slowly but surely progressed. To-dav, the productive en-
dowment is $110,674.37; not yet productive, $30,118. Small as
this endowment is, it is, nevertheless, large enough to be a guaran-
tee against any such financial troubles in the future, as have over-
taken the college in the past. The erection of a large and handsome
new building, to which the old ones are to be the wings, has been
commenced, and has so far progressed as to insure its enclosure the
present year. This building will cost $40,000, which will be borne
by voluntary contributions. A greater era of prosperity has never
befallen the institution than the present. During the collegiate
year just closed, the number of students in attendance was 223.
The entire number who have received all, or the greater part of
their education in Franklin College, is 3,000. The first graduate
was John W. Dame, in 1847, since which ninety students have taken
their degrees at the end of a full course of studies in Franklin Col-
lege.
The names of the presidents of Franklin College have already
been given. Among the persons who have served as professors,
we may note William Brand, Dr. John S. Hougham, John W.
Dame, Jeremiah Brumback, Barnett Wallace, Mark Baily and
C. E. Baily. The faculty, as now constituted, is as follows: Rev.
William T. Stott, D. D., president, and professor of mental and
moral philosophy: Rev. Columbus H. Hall, B. D., vice president,
and professor of Greek language and literature; Miss Rebecca J.
Thompson, A. M., professor of mathematics, pure and applied;
Rev. Arthur B. Chaffee, A. M., professor of chemistrv and physics;
David A. Owen, A. M., professor of geology and botany; John W.
Moncrief, A. M., professor of history; Francis W. Brown, A. M.,
Ph. D., professor of Latin language and literature; J. D. Bruner,
instructor in modern languages; Mrs. Arabella R. Stott, instructor
in painting and drawing: James M. Dungan, instructor in music, in-
strumental and vocal; Miss Lucia May Wiant, instructor in elocution..
BENCH AND BAR.
J8 9
CHAPTER V.
BY D. D. r.ANI'A.
Bench and Bar — Circuit Court — Its Judges and Officers
— First Sessions — Early Cases — Probate Court — ■
Courts Under the New Constitution — Common Pleas —
Fluctuation of Litigation — Circuit Judges and Prose-
cuting Attorneys — Early Attorneys.
ORIGINALLY it was provided that the circuit court
of Johnson County should be held at the house of
John Smiley, " or at any other place the said court shall
adjourn to, until suitable accommodations can be provided
at the permanent seat of justice of said county." The
county was attached to the fifth judicial circuit, or as it
was popularly known, to the " New Purchase " circuit,
and was given two terms of court a year — a spring term
and a fall term. Three judges were provided for by constitutional
enactment, viz. : a president judge, who was elected by the Gen-
eral Assembly of the state, and two associate judges, who were
elected by the popular vote of the people of the county in which
they served.
The necessity for associate judges sprung out of a feeling of
jealousy existing in the pioneer mind of professional men. It was
not enough to have a jury of twelve men selected from the vicinage,
to which all issues of fact could be submitted, but there must needs
be two laymen, selected by popular vote from the same vicinage,
who were to occupy a seat along with the president judge, and
having the power to overrule him on all questions of both law and
fact — a power that was occasionally exercised. In the absence of
the president judge, the associates were clothed with all the powers
appertaining to a circuit court. They could make up issues, try
civil and criminal causes, grant restraining orders and hear writs of
habeas corpus. The system continued up to #?ie adoption of the
present state constitution in 1S51.
At the time Johnson Count}' was made a part of the fifth
judicial circuit, William W. Wick was the president judge. He
had been commissioned for a term of seven years, on the 2nd day
of January, 1S22, then being in his twenty-eighth year. Judge
Wick was a man of marked ability, and was for a long time identi-
39O JOHNSON COUNTY.
fied with the people of Johnson County. He was born in western
Pennsylvania, and studied law in the office of the Hon. Thomas
Corwin, at Lebanon, Ohio. In 1S20, he moved to Connersville,
where he was living at the time of his elevation to the bench, not
long after which he moved to Indianapolis, where he continued to
reside up to 1S65, when he moved to Franklin, living the remain-
der of his days with his daughter, Mrs. Laura Overstreet. He
died in 1S79, and all that is mortal of him lies in the Franklin
Cemetery, without a stone to mark his resting place. During his
somewhat busy life, he served ten years on the circuit bench, four
years as secretary of state, and rive years in Congress.
At the first election held in the county, Israel Watts, of the
Blue River settlement, and Daniel Boaz, of the White River, were
chosen without opposition, as far as now known, associate judges.
Of the former, but little is known. He had the misfortune to
live in a community where no one has ever cared to perpetuate, in
writing, the memory of its pioneer citizens, a misfortune in which a
large majority of the Indiana pioneers have shared. The most we
can say of Israel Watts is, he was an uncultured and honest man. and
was thought well of by the public he so long served in a minor
judicial capacity. He could barely write his name, as the records
show, but he was considered a man of excellent judgment. He
served seven years associate judge, after which he was elected
to the probate bench, and served seven years thereon. We know
more of Judge Boaz. His neighbor, Judge Hardin, thus writes of
him : " He was a fine specimen of the old Virginia gentleman, and
of unbending dignity. He was affable, polite and kind, and was
highly useful in imparting knowledge to his neighbors, of legal
matters, and in their distress, when sick, and no doctor could be
procured, in advising and contributing medicine for their relief."
On Thursday, the 16th day of October, 1823, the first term of
the Johnson circuit court was begun at the house of John Smiley.
All the judges were present, and Samuel Herriott, clerk of the
court, and John Smiley, sheriff. John'Smilev lived in a two-roomed
cabin, in one of which the court was convened, and in the other of
which the grand jury held its sessions. James Dulanev, Daniel B.
AVick and Calvin Fletcher, appeared as attorneys, and were duly
sworn as such. The sheriff produced the following ' L good and
lawful men and discreet householders " who served as grand jurors,
viz. : John Israel, foreman, William Barnett, Thomas Doan. John
Darter, George King, Jonathan Palmer, John White, John A. Mow,
Joab Woodruff, William Fester, John Jacobs, John A. Miller,
Simon Shaffer, Jefferson D. Jones and John Frazier. Daniel B.
Wick, a younger brother of the judge, was appointed to prosecute
BENCH AND BAR. 39 1
the pleas of the state. In the room in which the grand jury met,
Mrs. Smile\ lay sick. The prosecutor carried in his pocket a flask
of ardent spirits, from which the sick woman was invited by the
prosecutor to drink. After her declination, the bottle was gener-
ally handed to the grand jurymen, most, or all, of whom were less
scrupulous than the sick woman.
It was remembered that a large per cent, of the male popula-
tion of the county attended that first term of the Johnson circuit
court. Most of them came on foot, carrying rifles, and wearing
leather breeches. All gave the closest attention to the legal proceed-
ings, which, however, were of short duration, leaving considerable
time for shooting at a mark, a pastime in which the yeomenry of
that day, loved to engage. When the dinner hour had arrived,
judges, lawyers, jurymen and spectators were invited to eat of the
dinner which had been prepared for the purpose. The mistress of
the house being sick, Mrs. Nancv Rutherford, a near neighbor,
volunteered to bake the cornbread and roast the venison and wild
turkevs that made the principal part of the feast.
One civil case was on the docket when court was called the
morning of that first dav, entitled: "Henry Hines, assignee of
William II. Eads and Thomas C. Eads, partners, trading and doing-
business under the firm of William H. Eads & Co., vs. William
Hunt, " in which a judgment was rendered on default in the sum of
$33-54- The grand jury returned indictments charging assault and
battery against William Burkhart and Martin Cutsinger, and one
against David Burkhart and Richard Berry, on charge of an affray.
All of these breaches of the peace occurred at the time of the first
election, held at the home of Hezekiah Davison, in the March be-
fore. Amos Durbin filed a petition for a change in a highway,
after which, an allowance of 75 cents was made to each of the grand
jurymen, and of $2 to each of the associate judges, and then the
court adjourned until the next term, to meet at the house of George
King.
On the first Monday in March, 1824, the court convened at the
place appointed, with the same officers as at first. George King's
wheelwright shop having been put in order, was made the court
room. Gabriel Johnson, Philip Sweetzer, Edgar C. Wilson and
Hiram Brown were admitted to practice at the Johnson County
bar. The following named persons were sworn as grand jurors,
to wit: Isaac Davison, Hezekiah Davison, David Webb, Andrew
Pierce, Jacob Groseclose, Robert Gilcrees, William Burkhart,
George W. Blankenship, John Adams, Si\, Jesse Davison, Ab-
raham Lowe, Lewis Pritchard, John Hamner, John Campbell
and Patrick Cowan — fifteen good and true men ; and Abraham
39 2
JOHNSON" COUNTY.
Lowe was made the foreman. On the case of the State vs. David
Burkhart and Richard Berry, who were indicted at the former
term of court, for an affray, being called, the first named on being
arraigned plead not guilty, and demanded a jury. The following
persons were called and sworn to " well and truly " try the case,
viz.: Zachariah Sparks. David McCaslin, William Etter, Willis S.
Mills, Michael Brown, Permenter Mullenix, Abraham Sells, Spen-
cer Barnett, Philip Moore, Philip W. Robinson and William Ruth-
erford. After hearing the evidence and the argument of counsel,
they found the defendant guilty, and assessed his fine at one cent.
An alias writ was issued for his partner in crime — Richard Berry.
An indictment for an assault and battery was found against John
Doty, of White River. He and Permenter Mullenix, at the elec-
tion, in March, 1823, had a light about their candidates for clerk,
and doubtless, this indictment arose out of that trouble. Timothy
S. Goodman obtained a judgment against William Hunt, in assump-
sit, for $85.92. An appeal from Justice McDonald's docket, of a
case entitled, " State of Indiana vs. William Quin," was dismissed
by " Wick for the State." Curtis Pritchard and Isabella, his wife,
acknowledged the execution of a deed, to lands in Kentucky, be-
fore the court, which was made a matter of record. The bond
of James Thompson, guardian of Alfred Thompson, Jennette A.
Thompson, Alexander B. Thompson and Gelia D. Thompson, with
William R. Hensley and Ann Thompson, as sureties, was approved.
William Smiley was allowed 75 cents for all day's services as
sheriff. John Smiley, sheriff, $25 for "extra services," Samuel
Herriot, clerk, and Daniel B. Wick, prosecuting attorney, each the
same. The term began and ended on the same dav, during which
the presiding judge found time to lay down on King's work-bench
and " shake with the ague." The following September ( 1S24), the
court convened again, at the house of George King, but immedi-
ately the following entry was ordered bv the judges: '-The court
being satisfied that a more convenient house for the holding of the
court can be had in the Town of Franklin, the seat of justice for
said county, now adjourns, to meet at that house instanter."
The "convenient house" referred to was the first court house
erected in the county. It stood on lot 22, and was built during the
summer of 1S24. by William Shaffer, the county recorder, who
was by occupation a house joiner. Thomas Williams, who was the
owner of the only yoke of oxen then in the new town, drew the
logs to the building site for Si. The house was in keeping
with the poverty of the county. It was two stories high, was built
of hewed logs, and a broad wooden outside and south side stairs
led from the ground up to the second floor, which was the court
BENCH AND BAR. 393
room. This was furnished with a table, "two sphnt-bottomed
chairs, one for the judge and one for the clerk," with wooden
benches without backs, for the accommodation of associate judges,
lawyers, jurymen, litigants and spectators.
Harvey Gregg, producing his commission as prosecuting attor-
ney for the fifth judicial circuit, was duly affirmed by Judge Wick.
Michael G. Bright was admitted to practice at the Johnson County
bar. The business of the court had so increased that it required
two days to dispose of it. Nine state causes claimed the attention
of the court, three of which were recognizances for surety of
the peace. One was against Andrew Pierce with John Rowe as
complaining witness, who, says the record, being duly sworn saith,
"That he is not as fearful of bodily injury from the said Andrew
as when he first complained against him, but that he is still afraid
he, the said Andrew, will do him some bodily injury, and that he is
afraid to trust him"; and the said Andrew was thereupon required
to give surety that he would keep the peace toward all men, and
"more especially toward the said John Rowe."
In the log court house, the circuit courts continued to assemble
every spring and fall, up to 1831, when a new brick structure was
erected in the public square at a cost of $1,176.50. On the 18th
of May, 1S49, this building was consumed by fire, after which
another brick house was built on its site at a cost of $10,684. O n
the 1 2th of December, 1S74, this in turn, was consumed by fire.
Thereupon, the county commissioners caused a frame building to
be erected south of the square, which served the purpose till a new
one, begun in 1879, cou ld be completed. This imposing structure
was erected at the contract price of $79j io °- From what has been
written, it will be perceived that the circuit court, as originally con-
stituted in this state, was a court of very general jurisdiction. In
1S30, a probate court was established, and Israel Watts was elected
and served as probate judge of the county up to 1837. For a
period of more than twenty years the two courts retained then-
respective jurisdictions without any material change.
With the adoption of the new constitution in 1851, the old judi-
cial system gave way, and with it ended the first period of the
county's judicial history. The names of those who have held the
office of circuit judge in the Johnson circuit court will be given
hereafter. The following are the names of those who served as
associate judges, viz. : Israel Watts, 1823 to 1830; Daniel Boaz,
1823 to 1837; William Keaton, 1830 to 1S35; James R. Alexan-
der, 1835 to 1843; Robert Moore, 1837 to 1^44; James Fletcher,
1843 to 1S45; John R. Carver, 1844 to 1851; John Wilson, 1845
to 1851. The following persons filled the office of probate judge:
394 JOHNSON COUNTY.
Israel Watts, 1S30 to 1837; John Smiley, 1837 to 1844; Bartholo-
mew Applegate, 1844 to 1851; Peter Voris, 1851 to 1852.
The new constitution kept the circuit court on toot with its two
terms a year. The office of associate judge was abolished, and
the probate court also gave way for a new court — the common
pleas. All the weightier matters of the law were left to the juris-
diction of the circuit court, but the General Assembly having been
empowered by the constitution to create courts of inferior jurisdic-
tion to the circuit court, in 1853 the common pleas court was legis-
lated into existence. It was intended to be a court of convenience.
Four terms a year were provided for, and it was given exclusive
jurisdiction in all probate matters, and concurrent jurisdiction with
the circuit court in misdemeanor cases, and in inferior civil causes.
Johnson County constituted one district, and Franklin Hardin was
elected the first judge, and served as such to i860. Judge Hardin,
in his younger days, had studied law, but had no experience as a.
practitioner. He had, however, a valuable experience as a legisla-
tor, and had served as a delegate in the constitutional convention.
He had a fine natural ability, was a diligent student, a painstaking
judge, and under his administration the Johnson common pleas at-
tained a degree of popularity that clung to it as long as it had an
existence.
The conditions that led to the final overthrow of the common
pleas court arose mainly out of the legislation of the state. In
i860, the districts were greatly enlarged. Johnson, Shelby, Brown,
Morgan and Monroe counties were being joined in one circuit.
Similar changes were made with all the counties, which, at once, de-
prived the court of its most popular features, viz. : that of being a
county court. The judges, instead of being taken from the ranks
of neighbors, came, ifi a great measure, from the ranks of strangers.
Originally, the jurisdiction of the circuit and common pleas was
separate and distinct, but act after act was passed extending the
jurisdiction of the common pleas, until the partition wall was fairly
broken down. There came a time when this could be truthfully
written. " The circuit court has jurisdiction of all felonies and
misdemeanors; the common pleas of all misdemeanors, and under
certain circumstances, of felonies. The circuit court has exclus-
ive jurisdiction of all cases where the title to real estate comes di-
rectly in issue, but the common pleas may try causes where the
title comes collaterally in issue. The circuit court has exclusive
jurisdiction in actions for slander and libel, for injuries to the per-
son, and for breach of promise; the common pleas in all probate
matters. In the wide domain of causes arising out of contract,
comprising nine-tenths of the matters litigated in our courts, their
BENCH AND BAR.
395
jurisdiction is concurrent, and from them an appeal may go directly
to the court of last resort."
The anomalous spectacle was presented of two courts, each
having its own judge and prosecutor, with substantially the same
jurisdiction, administering justice in the same county. The com-
mon pleas districts were laid off without reference to the circuits,
and in many places, as soon as the term of one court expired, the
other was ready to begin. A few instances occurred where the
laws authorized both courts to be in session at the same time.
In 1iS7.11 an ac t was passed abolishing the common pleas, and
giving to the circuit court jurisdiction of all causes theretofore
belonging to both courts, and providing for four terms a year in
each count)'. The following persons held the office of common
pleas judge in the Johnson district, with their terms of service
annexed to their names, viz.: Franklin Hardin, 1853 to i860;
George A. Buskirk, i860 to 1864; Oliver J. Glessner, 1864 to
1868; Thomas W. Woollen, 1868 to 1870, resigned before term
expired; Richard Coffev, 1S70 to 1873. Judge Buskirk was a
resident of Monroe Count)-, Judge Glessner of Morgan, and Judge
Coffey of Brown. Judges Hardin and Woollen were of Johnson
County. From the organization of the county up to 1869, it had
been attached to the Indianapolis circuit, but a new circuit was
established in that year, consisting of Johnson, Shelby, Barthol-
omew and Brown counties, and in 1S73, when the act abolishing
the common pleas was passed, Johnson and Shelby counties were
organized into a circuit, which arrangement is still in existence.
Comparison of Business. — An inspection of the records of the
circuit and common pleas courts discloses some interesting facts
relating to the legal business of the county. From the organiza-
tion of the common pleas court up to and including i860, the cases
on the docket of the early spring terms, varied from fortv-one to
sixty-three, the highest number being in 1856. During the same
time in the circuit court the number of cases on the docket at the
spring terms varied from fifty to seventy-nine, the highest number
being reached in 1858. During the war period, the cases on docket
at the spring terms ran from eighty-three in 1861, down to twenty-
five in 1863, and twenty-two in 1S64. In the common pleas court
there was little change, the average during that period being about
sixty causes. In 1872, the number of causes at the March term of
the circuit court reached 104, the first time in the history of the
court the 100th was passed. At the following September term
the number reached 121. There was a corresponding increase
on the common pleas docket. Legal business was on the increase,
not only in Johnson County, but in every other county in the state,
39 6
JOHNSON COUNTY,
and in truth, everywhere in the west. Beginning with 1870, and
continuing for a period of thirteen years, was an unprecedented
era of litigation throughout the country.
The first term of the circuit court after the abolition of the
common pleas, in April, 1873, at which term the cases left over at the
final term of the common pleas, were transferred to the circuit court
docket, bringing the whole number of causes on its docket up to
177. The following table shows the number of civil causes on
docket at each term, from and including the year 1874, U P t0 anc ^ m "
eluding the year 1887 (with the exception of the year 1878, the
court docket for which year, not being found). Only three terms
of the court were held in 1873, hence the exclusion of that year:
February Term.
April Term.
Sept. Term.
Nov. Term.
Total.
IS74
200
156
204
214
136
98
92
133
92
1 11
100
104
"3
173
155
204
220
132
9+
no
79
64
106
11S
"5
99
80
180
165
264
256
i5 J
7°
140
i°3
128
141
145
144
116
126
175
204
146
108
90
102
94
116
131
120
112
679
65.
S76
1876
1S77 ..
S36
528
352
444
409
400
489
483
187a
1SS0
1SS1
1882
1SS1
1SS4
1885
1S86
475
ISS7
I8SS
The criminal causes are excluded from this showing, but it is
believed that there has been during the past ten years, as great
a falling off in the criminal business of the court as in the
civil, if not a greater. A confirmation of the facts as shown by the
term dockets, appears in the number of pages of records made
each year by the clerks. The record contains a history of the
work done, and a comparison of the total number of pages of
record made each year, proves the same facts that are proved by the
dockets of cases filed. In 1876 the court reached high water
mark, the total number of causes for that year being 876, which was
157 more than ever reached before in one year, and forty more
than ever reached since. An inspection of the table will show that
for the two years preceding 1876, the number of causes greatly
exceeded the highest number reached in any succeeding year,
save in 1S77, and that the business of the court has diminished,
until it is but little more than half what it was in the two flush
BENCH AND BAR.
397
years. In 1SS2 and in 1883 it was considerably less than half what
it was in 1876 and 1877.
The increase of legal business in Johnson Count}' dates from a
period following close upon the heels of the war. Many causes
combined to this end, two of which may be named. It was at
this time that the gravel roads of the county began to be built.
The early legislation under which the work was begun was exceed-
ingly crude. The laws were ambiguous and uncertain, and out of
this sprung litigation. Even after, by successive legislative acts, the -
gravel road laws had been reduced to a somewhat orderly system,
the litigation continued because of the magnitude of the interests
concerned. Gravel road construction proved expensive, and men
in general refused to pay assessments until their legality was estab-
lished by the courts. As a consequence, beginning with 1869 and
continuing up to 1875, the court of the county was crowded with a
class of business hard to manage by reason of the man}' novel ques-
tions arising, but profitable to the lawyers engaged in it.
Another potent cause of the increase of business during the
same period, came as a legacy from the war. The inflated condi-
tion of the currency following its close, brought about a period of
wild and reckless extravagance. The courts reaped the rewards.
The efforts of creditors to secure their debts, and of debtors to es-
cape payment, helped to swell the dockets. To adjust the al-
most infinite variety of business complications, arising out of the
disturbed condition of the monetary affairs of the people, occupied a
period of not less than twelve years, from 1865 to 1877.
The following table shows the names of the persons who have
held the office of circuit judge in Johnson County, their places of
residence, and the time during which they held office:
William W. Wick, Indianapolis 1S59
Fabius M. Finch, Franklin 1859-1865
John Coburn, Indianapolis 1S05-1S66
Cyrus C. Hines, Indianapolis 1866-1S69
Samuel P. Oyler, Franklin 1869-1870
DavidD. Banta, Franklin 1S70-1876
Kendall M. Hord, Shelbyville 1876-1888
William W. Wick, Indianapolis. .. I S23-1S25
Bethuel F. Morris, Indiannapolis. 1825-1S34
William W. Wick, Indianapolis. .. 1834-1840
James Morrison, Indianapolis 1S40-1842
Fabius M. Finch, Franklin 1842-1843
William J. Peaslee, Indianapolis.. 1843— 1850
William W. Wick, Indianapolis. .. 1850-1852
Stephen Major, Indianapolis 1852-1859
The following have filled the office of prosecuting attorney up
to the present time, to-wit: Daniel B. Wick, 1823; Harvey Gregg,
1824; Calvin Fletcher, 1S25; James Whitcomb, 1826; William W.
Wick, 1S29; Hiram Brown, 1831; James Gregg, 1832; William
Ilerrod, 1834; William Quarles, 1838; William J. Peaslee, 1S40;
Hugh O. Neal, 1841; H. H. Barbour, 1843; Abram Hammond,
1S44; Edward Lander, 1S4S; John Ketchum, i8.jS : David Wal-
lace, 1848; Gabriel M. Overstreet, 1S49; David S. Gooding, 1851;
398 JOHNSON COUNTY.
Reuben S. Riley, 1853; D. W. Chipman, 1855; Peter S. Ken-
nedy, 1857; William P. Fishback, 1863: William W. Leathers,
186^; Joseph S. Miller, 1867; Daniel W. Howe, 1869: Nathaniel
T. Carr, 1870; John Morgan, 1871; K. M. Hord, 1872: W. S.
Rav, 1874; Leonard J. Hackney, 187S; Jacob L. White, 18S0;
Frederick Staff, 18S2; Peter M. Dill, 1S86.
Up to, and including the incumbency of David Wallace in
1848, all were residents of Indianapolis, save William Herrod,
who lived in Columbus. Of the others, Gooding and Riley
lived in Greenfield; Chipman, Fishback and Leathers lived in In-
dianapolis; Kennedy, and Miller in Danville; Carr and Morgan, in
Columbus; Hood, Ray, and Hackney, in Shelby ville, and Over-
street, Howe, White, Staff and Dill were residents of Franklin,
where all vet reside, save D. W. Howe, who moved to Indianapolis
shortly after the close of his term, where he has made an enviable
reputation as a judge of the Marion supreme court.
The first lawyer to settle permanently in Franklin was Fabius
M. Finch, who after a thirty years' residence in the town and prac-
tice at the bar, moved to Indianapolis, where he still resides. In
1833, Gilderov Hicks moved to the town, and opened a law office
and practiced with a good degree of success up to about 1857?
when he retired on account of failing health, and shortly after died.
About 1847, John Slater, a Canadian, began the practice, and con-
tinued up to 1S56, when he left the country, and subsequently died
in Tennessee. The same year of Slater's admission to the bar,
Gabriel M. Overstreet was admitted, and in the year following,
Anderson B. Hunter. On the 21st of February, of the year following
(1S49), these two young lawyers formed a partnership, which is
still unbroken, and has the merit of being the oldest partnership in
the practice of law in the state. In 1851, Samuel P. Oyler began
the practice, and is still at the bar. In 1856, Richard M. Kelly
settled at Edinburg, where he opened an office and continued in the
active practice at the Franklin bar up to 1878, at which time he
died. Others came during this early period of the history of the
Franklin bar, but none remained in the practice beyond a few
years. Of these were, Duane Hicks, son of Gilderoy, who died
ere he reached the prime of life; Joseph Thompson, who, after a
short struggle, moved to Macomb, in Illinois, where he yet lives;
H. H. Hatch and Joseph King, both of whom settled at Edinburg,
but soon moved to the west, and Jonathan H. Williams, who was
killed early in the war in a Shenandoah Valley battle.
BLUE RIVER TOWNSHIP. 399
BLUE RIVER SKETCHES.
William L. Applegate, one of the substantial farmers and
stock-raisers of Blue River and Nineveh townships, was born in
Johnson County, Ind., on the 15th day of April, 1833. He is the
third son and sixth child of Bartholomew and Elizabeth (Drake)
Applegate, natives respectively of New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
The father emigrated to Warren County, Ohio, in an early da} - ,
was married there, and later, went back to New Jersey and became
captain of a sailing vessel. In 1821, he made a tour through Indi-
ana for the purpose of purchasing land, and being pleased with the
country in what is now Johnson County, entered 160 acres in the
present townships of Nineveh and Blue River. To this land he
moved his family in 1832, and for some years thereafter, lived the
life of a pioneer, enduring all the hardships incident to life in a new
and undeveloped country. He served as probate judge in an early
day, and died in 1854, aged sixty-one years. Mrs. Applegate sur-
vived her husband twentv-eight years, ctving in 1882, aged eighty-
one. They were the parents of thirteen children, eleven of whom
grew to manhood and womanhood, seven now living. William L.
Applegate grew to manhood in Johnson County, and early became
acquainted with the rugged duties of farm life. His early educa-
tional training was somewhat limited, and for some years he man-
aged the home farm, looking after his mother's interests. At the
age of thirty-six, on Christmas day, 1S68, he married Miss Katie
G. Irons, daughter of Garrett and Mary Ann (Giberson) Irons, of
New Jersey, a union blessed with the birth of two children, viz. :
Frederick T. and Bart I. Mrs. Applegate died in 1872. Subse-
quently, Mr. Applegate married Miss Annie M. Irons, sister of his
former wife, by whom he has had two children, viz. : Bennie and
John B. Mr. Applegate owns a well improved farm of 150 acres
in Nineveh and Blue River townships, the line between the two run-
ning through the place. He is an exemplary citizen, a republican
in politics, and an active member of the Odd Fellows.
Henry C. Bailey, cashier John A. Thompson's Bank, Edin-
burg, was born in Shelby County, Ind., September 21, 1854,
and is a son of Julius M. and Eveline (Thornberry) Bailey. His
parents were both natives of Indiana. The father, for a number of
years, was identified with the mercantile interests of Freeport,
Ind., and later followed merchandising in Indianapolis. He was
a man of character, high social standing, and for many years an
active member of the Christian Church. Henry C. Bailey was
reared and educated in his native town and Indianapolis. On
400 JOHNSON COUNTY.
quitting school he accepted a clerical position in the office of the
Marion County circuit court, and later engaged with the Brad-
street Commercial Agency, with which he was identified for a
period of ten years. In 1S87 he became assistant cashier in the
banking house of John A. Thompson, Edinburg, the duties of
which position he is still discharging. Mr. Bailey possesses supe-
rior clerical abilities, and in his various positions earned the repu-
tation of a safe and painstaking business man. May 4, 1884, he
was united in marriage with Miss Susan Thompson, the accom-
plished daughter of John A. Thompson, of Edinburg, a lady
favorably known for her rare attainments and amiable traits
of character. They have two children, to-wit: Lillian and Mary E.
Charles Bay was born in Montgomery County, Ky., March
6, 1819, and is the only son of Joseph and Judith (Epper-
son) Bay, natives respectively of Pennsylvania and Tennessee.
Until fifteen years of age he resided in his native state, but in 1834
accompanied his father to Johnson County, Ind., where he has since
resided. The father died in 1837, while on a visit to Kentucky,
and the mother departed this life in Johnson County, in the year
1851. The}' were, the parents of four children, two of whom are
living, to-wit: the subject of this sketch, and Mrs. Nancy Jones, of
Illinois. Mr. Bay early chose agriculture for a life work, and has
always pursued that calling. He owns a fine farm of 145 acres, in
the western part of Blue River Township, and is one of the suc-
cessful farmers and leading citizens of his community. Mr. Bay
has been three times married : first, to Miss Alice Watts, who died
in 1850. The children of this marriage were three in number, two
now living, viz.: Joseph R. and Israel. Mr. Bay's second wife was
Keturah Chenoweth, who died in 1855, leaving one child, a daugh-
ter, Mary A. The third marriage was solemnized with Mrs. Har-
riett F. DeHart, who has borne five children, two of whom are now
living, Laura and Joseph N. Bay.
George M. Bishop, son of Valentine and Mary E. (Horine)
Bishop, was born in Mercer County, Ky., on the 1st day of Janu-
ary, 1821. His father was a soldier in the Canadian War, and
died in Kentucky, at the age of forty-five years. The mother died
later, aged fifty-eight years. The subject remained in his native
county until his twenty-fifth year, and then went to LaRue County,
and engaged in blacksmithing at the town of Buffalo, where he
followed his trade for some time. In 1876, he came to Indiana,
and for two vears thereafter, followed farming in Johnson Count}',
moving at the end of that time to Bartholomew Count}', and later, to
Shelbv County, where he resided until his removal to Edinburg in 1884
or 1S85. Although having moved a number of times, Mr. Bishop has
BLUE RIVER TOWNSHIP.
4OI
been successful in a business point of view, the fruits of his indus-
try and labors, being represented at this time by valuable real es-
tate in Edinburg, besides other property of a personal kind.
While a resident of LaRue County, Ky., Air. Bishop was elected
coroner, the only official position he has ever held, or desired to
hold, being much averse to political notoriety. He married in
LaRue County, June 4, 1846, Miss Catherine A. Dye, of Ken-
tuck}-, who has borne him eleven children, the following of whom
are living: John W., Mary J., Louisa F., Sarah B., Melissa E.,
George F., William E., Charles E., and Virdie T.
Alexander Breeding (deceased) was a member of one of the
early pioneer families of this part of Indiana. He was born in the
town of Columbiana, Adair County, Ky., on the 9th day of
November, 1823. His parents were David and Mary (Hendrick-
son) Breeding, the former of Scotch, and the latter of Irish, descent.
In 1S28, when the subject was but five years of age, the family
immigrated to Indiana and settled in Bartholomew Count)', thence
later to Johnson Countv, where Alexander grew to maturity.
Reared amid the stirring scenes of pioneer times, Mr. Breeding's
early life was a constant series of toil and hardships, but the ex-
perience gained thereby enabled him to overcome successfully
many obstacles which would have discouraged men of less spirit
and determination. His chief occupation for one year was hauling
whisk)' to the city of Madison, and he also made trips by flat-
boat down the river. Later he began farming in Blue River Town-
ship, Johnson County, a business be followed until his death, and
by means of which he accumulated a large and valuable propertv.
He became a prominent stock-raiser, a business which also proved
financially profitable, his large stock-farm in Blue River being at
this time worth over $100 per acre. As a public-spirited man he
is fully alive to the material and moral interests of the community.
Mr. Breeding occupied a conspicuous place among his fellow-
citizens of Blue River Township. He was married December 12,
1843, to Rebecca Ann Thompson, by whom he had eleven child-
ren, three of whom are living, viz. : William H., Effie L., wife of
William M. Perry, and Frank A. Mrs. Breeding dying, Mr. Breed-
ing subsequent]} married Miss Mattie J.Kerr, who now lives with her
uncle, Thomas Kerr. Mr. Breeding was a republican in politics,
and an active member of the Christian Church. I [is death
occurred on the 12th day of August, 1887.
John Brockman (deceased), the subject of this sketch, was
a native of Shelby County, Ind., born on the 21st day of June,
[828. He was raised a farmer, and earl}' began working at that use-
ful occupation, which he followed successfully all his life. July 12,
402 JOHNSON" COUNTY.
1 86 1, he married Miss Mary Beeson, whose father, Isaac Beeson,
was born in North Carolina, in the year 1S01. Mr. Beeson came to
Indiana many years ago, and was a leading farmer of Blue River
Township, where his death occurred March 29, 1S84. He had a
family of nine children, two of whom fell in defence of the old flag
in the late Civil War. Mrs. Beeson died in the year 1871. For
several years after his marriage Mr. Brockman lived with his father-
in-law. and in 1884 erected a beautiful residence, which was his
home for a little less than two years. He met his death under the
following painful circumstances: "One Friday afternoon he took
his gun for the purpose of shooting a hawk, but failing in this,
started to go out where his dogs were chasing a rabbit. In the
act of climbing a fence near the house, the gun by some means was
discharged, the shot taking effect in his body, severing an artery
near the heart." Mrs. Brockman seeing him fall, ran to his assist-
ance, and reached him in time to see him expire. He died in her
arms without a sign of recognition. His funeral was largely at-
tended, and the sermon on the occasion, preached by Rev. Mr.
Turner, of Edinburg, was a glowing and eloquent tribute to a
loving husband and father, and a deserved enconium to his worth
as an honorable citizen and respected neighbor. At the time of his
death Mr. Brockman was fifty-eight years and six months old. Mr.
and Mrs. Brockman raised a family of five children, namely :
Vinson, Ulysses, Isaac, Annie and Charles, all of whom are living
with their mother on the home farm in Blue River Township.
W. T. Brockman. — Eandav Brockman, father of the subject
of this sketch, was a native of Virginia, and grew to manhood in
Kentucky, having been taken to the latter state when but four
years old. He married in Kentucky, Martha Shipp, and later
moved to Shelby County, Ind., settling in the woods, and for some
years lived the rugged life of the pioneer. He was one of the
earl}- settlers of Shelby, and at the time of his arrival his nearest
neighbors were the Indians, with whom he appears to have been
upon terms of the greatest friendship. He made a valuable farm,
and became a leading citizen of the community in which he resided.
Mrs. Brockman died at the age of sixty-four; she was the mother
of twelve children, seven of whom are now living. Until within a
year of his death. Mr. Brockman lived on his home place, consist-
ing of 320 acres of land, but later moved to Edinburg, and died in
that town at the advanced age of seventy-two. He was an active
member of the Methodist Protestant Church, a great temperance
worker, and in early life supported the principles of the whig
party. W.. T. Brockman was born and reared in Shelby County,
and early chose the farmer's vocation for his life work. His educa-
BLUE RIVER TOWNSHIP. 4O3
tional training was confined to a few months' attendance each year
in the common schools, but by observation he has since become the
possessor of a fund of valuable practical knowledge. December
22, 1852, he married Martha, daughter of William and Phoebe
(Coons) Lewis, of Shelby Count)-, the parents natives of Vir-
ginia. Shortly alter his marriage, Mr. Brockman purchased his
present farm in Johnson County, which lies in sight of the old
home place, where the years of his youth and early manhood
were passed. lie now owns one of the most valuable and attract-
i\ e farms in Blue River Township, and is justly considered one of
the leading citizens of the community in which he resides. Mr.
and Mrs. Brockman are the parents of six children, four living, viz. :
Sarah C, Mary J., Landay and Clara E. The deceased children
are: Ella O. and Maggie. Mr. Brockman is a republican in poli-
tics, and with his wife belongs to the Methodist Protestant Church.
C. L. Clancy, the gentleman whose sketch is herewith pre-
sented, is a native of Jefferson County, Ohio, born in the town of
La Grange, on the 3d day of May, 1851. He is a son of William
Clancy, who was at one time, a leading hotel man of La Grange,
and who died when C. L. was quite young. The children of the
family, four in number, after the parents' death, were kindly cared
for bv relatives, the subject falling under the especial care of an
uncle, Charles Clancy, with whom he made his home until his
fourteenth year. At that early age, with the spirit that animated
the patriotic young men throughout the entire north during the
trying years of the nation's peril, he offered his services to his
country, enlisting in the One Hundred and Seventh-fourth Ohio
Volunteer Infantry, with which he served for one year. During
his period of service he was with his regiment in thirteen battles,
thus winning a record of which older soldiers might be proud. On
quitting the arm} - he engaged in the harness business at Carding-
ton, Ohio, and four years later located at the town of Chesterville,
that state, where he was similarly engaged for two years. He af-
terward abandoned the business and accepted an agencv to sell
washing machines in Indiana, and in 1871, came to Johnson County,
where the following year he engaged in the livery business in the
city of Edinburg, which he continued several years. He then
abandoned livery and opened a feed and sale stable, which he has
since carried on in connection with raising and dealing in line
blooded horses and trotting stock. He is, at this time, one of the
leading stock-men of Johnson County, and at his stable can be seen
a number of very line animals, among which the names of Daniel
Boone, Blue Bull, Mambrino Turk, have more than a local reputa-
tion. Mr. Clancy is well known among the stock-men of the state,
26
4O4 JOHNSON COUNTY.
and lias already a large and lucrative business, which is steadily in-
creasing. He was married September r, 1S7S, to Miss Ida, daugh-
ter of David M. White, of Bartholomew County, who has borne
him one child, Charles S. In addition to his fine stock, which repre-
sents a capital of several thousand dollars. Mr. Clancy owns valuable
real estate in Michigan and Kansas, and a fine farm near the town
of Edinburg. Politically, he is a republican,. and in religion belongs
to the Christian Church of Edinburg, as does also his wife. He is
a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
Jacob Coffelt (deceased), the subject of this sketch, was
a member of one of the oldest pioneer families of Johnson County,
his parents, Henry and Barbara Coffelt, moving here from
Tennessee several years before the county organization, and settling
near the present site of Amity, in Blue River Township. Here
the Coffelt family lived the life of pioneers, and amid the stirring
scenes of frontier life, raised a family of children, several of whom
eventually became leading citizens of the community. Jacob Cof-
felt was born in east Tennessee, September iS, 1800, and while
still young, accompanied his parents to Johnson County, Ind.,
where he grew to manhood as a farmer. His first wife was Miss Re-
becca Hamner, whom he married in this county, and with whom
he lived happily for about twenty years. After her death he mar-
ried Miss Rachel C. Brown, of North Carolina, daughter of Benja-
min and Lydia (Walters) Brown, both of whom died in that state.
The marriage was solemnized on the 15th day of August, 1866.
Mr. Coffelt was an industrious farmer, and a man whose good name
was never impugned by any who knew him. He was for years, a
great sufferer, but was not confined to his bed until within a few
hours of his death, which sad event occurred on the 5th day of
March, 1885. Mrs. Coffelt is at this time a woman well advanced
in age, being seventy-three years old. She is widely and favorably
known for her kindly and benevolent disposition, and unblemished
Christian character.
Thomas R. Coffelt (deceased), native of Tennessee, and
son of Henry and Barbara Coffelt, was born on the 1st day
of January, 1813. When quite young, he came to Indiana, and
settled, prior to the organization of Johnson County, on Young's
Creek, near the present site of Amity, in Blue River Township.
Here he cleared a farm and lived the live of a pioneer, having
been one of the early settlers in the southern part of the county.
On the 4th day of April, 1833, he was united in marriage with Miss
Elizabeth Hamner, sister of John Hamner, a member of one of the
early pioneer families, and by her had two children, both deceased.
Mrs. Coffelt died on the nth day of July, 1849. Mr. Coffelt's sec-
BLUE RIVER TOWNSHIP. 405
ond marriage was solemnized Jul}' 19, 1S60, with Miss Amanda
Brown, daughter of Benjamin and Lydia (Walters) Brown, of
Ashe County, N. C. To this marriage were born two children, one
of whom, Mrs. Nancy E. Barron, is now living. Mr. Coffelt fol-
lowed farming all his life, and was a man of many noble and sterling
qualities. His death occurred at his home place, near the village
of Amity, on the i5th»day of April, 1S73, his age being sixty years
three months and fifteen days. His widow still survives, and lives
on the home farm, a handsome place of 200 acres, finely improved.
She was born January 13, 1824, and is a well preserved woman for
her age.
Isaac D. Collier, of the town of Edinburg, the oldest na-
tive born citizen of Blue River Township, and possibly of Johnson
Count}', his birth having occurred on the 19th day of April, 1S24.
His early years were passed in a routine of hard labor, in his fath-
er's saw- and grist-mill, and while still young he assisted in trans-
porting the products of said mills by flat-boat to New Orleans and
intermediate points. At the age of eighteen he began learning the
blacksmith's trade with his father, and after becoming proficient in
the same, engaged in the business for himself, and followed it until
1S52. In that year he joined the tide of emigration to California,
and was there until 1S59, mining and working at his trade. Re-
turning to Johnson County in 1859, ne purchased the family home-
stead, and resided upon the same until 1861, when he entered the
army as private in Company C, Twenty-seventh Indiana Infantry,
Col. Colgrove's regiment, with which he served seven months,
when he was discharged on account of physical disabilities. In
1862, he suffered a severe loss by fire, but soon rebuilt the house
in which he at present resides. While making a second trip west,
a little later, Mr. Collier met with a serious accident, being thrown
from a horse, resulting in the breaking of one of his legs, which
disabled him for over nine months. He was absent from home
nearly two years, and spent the time hunting and trapping through-
out the States of Missouri and Kansas. Since 1S72, Mr. Collier
has been in the employ of John A. Thompson, as night watch in
the large flouring mill near Edinburg. He was married November,
1850, to Mrs. Catherine C. Toner [nee Folander), by whom he has
had two children, viz.: Annie L., wife of Martin W. Hunt, and
Maggie. By her previous marriage, Mrs. Collier is the mother of
one child, a son, William Toner. Mr. Collier is a member of the
A. F. & A. M., and a republican in politics.
John A. Collier, the gentleman whose biographical sketch is
herewith presented, is a representative of one of the earliest pioneer
families in Johnson County, his father, Isaac Collier, having located
406 JOHNSON COUNTY.
on the present site of Edinburg, before the county was organized.
The Colliers were early residents of Greenfield, Ohio, in which
town the above named Isaac worked at the blacksmithing trade.
He served in the War of 1812 as drum major, and shortly after
the close of the struggle came to Indiana. He eventually came to
Johnson County and built the first residence in the town of Edin-
burg, and also claimed the distinction of being the first mechanic
of the place, opening a blacksmith shop immediately upon his arrival.
He was a splendid mechanic, especially skilled in fine work, such
as edged tools, guns, pistols, etc. His wife's maiden name was
Nancy Jones. He married her in Ohio, and raised a family of nine
children, only two of whom are now living, to-wit: Isaac D. and
the subject of this sketch. He died in the year 1840, at the age of
sixty. His wife survived him forty years, dying in 1880, at the
ripe old age of ninety. John A. Collier was born in the town of
Greenfield, Ohio, on the 2^th day of November, 1S20. He was
raised in Johnson County, Ind., and obtained his first start in life by
flat-boating and saw-milling. He subsequently purchased land in
Blue River Township, and engaged in farming, which was his occu-
pation until 1883. In that year he turned his attention to the manu-
facture of brick, a business he still follows. In this enterprise Mr.
Collier has been quite successful, the yearly production of his kilns
being over 200,000 brick, all of which find ready sale in Edinburg
and vicinity. Mr. Collier was married January 1, 1845, to Miss
Deborah Ann Bills, daughter of Abraham and Harriet (Johnson)
Bills, of New Jersey. The following are the names of Mr. and
Mrs. Collier's children now living: Susan, wife of Smith;
Margie, wife of William Dark; John B.; Harriet B., wife of
Fair, and Isaac.
George Cutsinger, son of Samuel and Elizabeth Cutsinger,
was born in Shelby County, Ind., on the 28th day of February,
1843. He was educated in the country schools, and reared to agri-
cultural pursuits, which he has always followed, beginning farm
life for himself about the year 1866, in Jackson Township, Shelby
Co. He afterward moved to Johnson County, where, after a short
residence, he returned to Shelby, and at this time lives upon the
paternal homestead, one of the best improved farms in the section
where it is located. Mr. Cutsinger owns valuable lands in Johnson
and Bartholomew counties, and in addition deals in thorough-bred
horses and other fine live-stock. He is an industrious and intelli-
gent man, and one of the leading citizens of the community in which
he resides. Miss Matilda Miller, of Bartholomew County, daughter
of Isaac and Anna Miller, became his wife on the 10th day of De-
cember, 1863. Mr. and Mrs. Cutsinger have six children, whose
BLUE RIVER TOWNSHIP. 4O7
names are as follows: Mollie W., wife of Prof. A. J. Loughery, of
Edinburg; Kittie, wife of E. Wheatly; Frank M., Elizabeth D.,
and Roscoe. Mr. Cutsinger is a democrat in politics, but has never
sought official honors at the hands of his fellow citizens.
John* M. Cutsinger, farmer and stock-raiser, and a member
of one of the early pioneer families of Johnson County, was born
in Blue River Township, on the 8th day of January, 1839. ^ s
father was Jacob Cutsinger, a native of Virginia, and an early set-
tler of Johnson County, moving here some time before the county
was organized. Jacob Cutsinger was a farmer and distiller, also a
stock-raiser, in all of which he was very successful. He died in
the year 1852. John M. Cutsinger is the youngest of a family of
seven children, two of whom, beside himself, are living, viz. : Will-
iam and Mrs. Catherine A. Heiflan. He was reared to agricul-
tural pursuits, and in time became a leading farmer of Blue River
Township, where he now owns 120 acres of fine land, upon which
are many valuable improvements. He deals largely in stock, and,
in addition to his own land, farms other places, renting a good deal
of ground. He is an energetic and enterprising citizen, and a con-
sistent member of the Methodist Protestant Church, to which his
wife also belongs. He was married in Bartholomew Count}', Ind.,
to Miss Imelda Carter, daughter of John S. and Sarah (Cook)
Carter. To this union have been born the following' children:
Mrs. Ella J. Klein, Mrs. Sarah M. Furnas, Annie E., Samuel S.,
Thomas A., Jessie M., Homer C. and Floyd W.
Martin Cutsinger, third son of Samuel and Elizabeth (Har-
ris) Cutsinger, was born in Shelby County, Ind., on the 7th day of
February, 1856. He was reared to agricultural pursuits, received
a good education, and began life as a farmer, in which calling he
has been more than ordinarily successful, owning at this time one
of the largest and best improved farms in the vicinity of Edinburg.
Mr. Cutsinger's life has been characterized by that energy and ag-
gressiveness which marks the successful man, and as a reward of
his well-directed business efforts, he stands to-day in the foremost
rank of Johnson County's representative citizens. In connection
with his farming interests, Mr. Cutsinger has given a great deal of
attention to live-stock, and upon his beautiful farm, one mile north-
east of Edinburg, are to be seen some of the finest short-horn cat-
tle in this section of the state — some of which represent a capital
of over $300 each. To his efforts is largely due the credit of
awakening an interest in behalf of improved herds among the farm-
ers of Johnson County, and upon all matters pertaining to the grow-
ing of fine stock, he is an authority. Aside from his farming and
stock interests, he is interested in the Edinburg Starch Works, own-
4-OS JOHNSON COUNTY.
ing a share in the factory, and takes an active interest in the succes s
of the business. Mr. Cutsinger was united in marriage, May 4,
1876, to Miss Charity N. Williams, of Bartholomew County,
daughter of Claiborne Williams, one the prominent farmers and
stock-raisers in this part of the state. Mr. and Mrs. Cutsinger
are the parents of four children, three of whom are living, viz.:
Homer, Clarence and Minnie Belle.
Samuel Cutsinger, a prominent farmer, and one of the lead-
ing business men of central Indiana, was born in Washington
County, Kv., on the 25th day of June, 1820. Two years later the
family came to Indiana, and settled in what is now Jackson Town-
spip, Shelby' County, where amid the active scenes and rugged du-
ties of pioneer life the youthful years of our subject were passed.
The family living in moderate circumstances, young Samuel was
obliged to bear his part in the work of clearing and developing
tlje farm, consequently his educational training was very limited, as
but little time could be devoted to attendance at school. He early
displayed rare business qualifications, however, and by much min-
gling with men in after years acquired a practical education such as
few possess. He remained with his parent until his marriage, which
took place December 12, 1839, w 'th Elizabeth Harris, and then
moved to Edinburg, where he had engaged in the mercantile busi-
ness the year previous. Here he remained until 1S41, when he
moved back to Jackson Township, and resumed farming which,
with stock-raising, he has since carried on. Mrs. Cutsinger was
born in Kentucky, September, 1820, and came to Shelby County,
Ind., when but nine years of age. Thirteen children have been
born to Mr. and Mrs. Cutsinger, namely: Mary, Jane, George, Ed-
monson, Maria, Catherine, Ann, Hannah B., Martin, Indiana, Ivory II.,
Eleanor and William E. Of these, all are living with the excep-
tion of the fifth daughter, Ann, and nearly all settled near their
father's home. As a farmer and stock-raiser, Mr. Cutsinger has
met with success such as few achieve, and in his business transac-
tions has displayed financial ability of the highest order. Begin-
ning life with little or no capital, he has so managed his affairs as
to accumulate a large fortune, owning at this time over 1,800
acres of valuable land, besides having a large amount of capital in-
vested in manufacturing enterprises at Edinburg and Franklin.
He has made a great deal of money in stock, dealing extensively
in cattle and hogs, always making it a point to have them as large
and fat as could be found in the market. Latterly he has dealt more
in cattle, and fattens yearly from 200 to 250 head of choice steers.
In 1869, Mr. Cutsinger, with three other business men, founded
the Edinburg Starch Works, the largest enterprise of the kind in
BLUE RIVER TOWNSHIP. 4O9
the state, and one of the largest in the United States west of the
Alleghany Mountains. He has been the leading spirit of the en-
terprise, and much of its success has been due to his able manage-
ment and business foresight. Latterly he became identified with
the starch works at Franklin, in which he has a large amount of
.capital invested. Both of these establishments are appropriately
mentioned in another part of this volume. The better to look after
his business interests, Mr. Cutsinger, in 1884, moved to Edinburg,
where he has since resided, his residence here being one of the
finest homes in the city. Politically, Mr. Cutsinger has always
been an unswerving supporter of the democratic party, but he has
never sought official honors at the hands of his fellow-citizens.
Person ally, he is very popular, and with true Kentucky hospitality
believes in having as many of the good things of this world as is
consistent with a successful business career. In his wife he has se-
cured a life partner who has always been a helper to him, and one
well qualified to fill the duties of wife and mother. She seconds
her husband in Q-ivinsj crenuine welcome to all who have the good
fortune to become the recipients of their hospitality, and is favor-
ably known among a large circle of friends and acquaintances for
her man}' excellent qualities. Mr. and Mrs. Cutsinger are active
members of the Christian Church of Edinburg.
Thomas H. Daily (deceased) was born December 4, 1841,
in the town of Charlestown, Clark Co., Ind., and was a son
of David W. and Mary A. (Shirle}) Daily, natives respect-
ively of Indiana and Kentucky. He was the youngest of a
family of eleven children, seven of whom are living, and grew to
manhood in his native county, in the common schools, of which he
received the elements of an ordinary English education. When
the war cloud gathered over the country in 1861, he responded to
the call for volunteers, enlisting when but nineteen years of age,
in Company D, Twenty-second Indiana Infantry, with which he
served gallantly for a period of three years. He entered the ser-
vice as a private, but soon obtained a lieutenant's commission, and
later, was promoted captain, in which capacity he served on the staff of
Gen. Jefferson C. Davis, between whom and himself there ex-
isted an intimate friendship. He participated in a number of cam-
paigns and battles, and was with his command through all its varied
experiences in the service, during which time he gained the good
will of his men and the confidence and esteem of his superiors in
office. He passed safely through various engagements in which
his command took a part, but was severely hurt by being thrown
from his horse against a tree, the effect of which was materially to
41 JOHNSON COUNTY.
shorten his life. He was mustered out of the service at Atlanta,
Ga., September 14, 1864. and on (quitting the armv he received through
the interposition of a friend, the position of passenger conductor on
the J., M. & I. Railroad without having to pass through the usual
preliminaries and promotions required for such service. He ran
a train for twelve years, but owing to physical disability superin-
duced by the injury received while in the army, was finally com-
pelled to abandon the road, which he did very reluctantly. For
about three years and nine months previous to his death, Mr. Daily
was a confirmed invalid, and during that time, his comfort and satis-
faction was to meet and converse with his old army comrades and
recall the scenes of his battles and campaigns in which they took
part while in defence of the flag. He married September 27,
1868, Miss Maggie Walsh, daughter of John Walsh, Esq., who
shared with him the future vicissitudes of life, and who is now living
at her home in the town of Edinburg. Mr. Daily died on the 3rd
day of May, 1881, and was buried in his native town of Charles-
town. He was a devoted member of the Catholic Church, in which
faith his wife and children were also raised. Mr. and Mrs. Daily
raised a family of three children, namely: Katie, born July 8, 1S69;
Ella W., born January 4, 1872, and Maria, born November 25,
1873, died February 28, 1880. Mrs. Dailv has looked carefully to
the intellectual training of her children, Miss Katie being a gradu-
ate of St. Mary's academy, an educational institution located near
Terre Haute. The other daughter, Ella W., is pursuing her studies
at the same school.
Cassius W. Davis, the subject of this sketch, is a native of
Cincinnati, Ohio, and the onlv living child of Moses and Elizabeth
(Donnelly) Davis. Paternally, Mr. Davis is descended from En-
glish ancestors, and upon the mother's side from Irish. He was
born on the 28th day of November, 1852, and at the early age of
sixteen began life for himself, choosing for his calling the carpenter's
trade, at which he served a three years' apprenticeship. He began
working at his trade in Edinburg, Ind., to which place he came in
1866, and after following it several years, accepted a clerkship in
the grocery house of Breeding & Bro., by whom he was employed
until about the year 1883. He then became book-keeper for H.
Maley & Co. (saw- and planing-mill), a position he still holds. Mr.
Davis is a careful and competent business man, and enjovs the con-
fidence of the wealthy firm, by which he is employed. In addition
to his clerical position, he is interested in the mercantile business,
being one of the partners to the grocery store of Maley, Davis &
Co. He was married in November, 1S81, to Miss Ite Furgason,
BLUE RIVER TOWNSHIP.
4 II
a native of Johnson County, Ind., daughter of Frank and Maty
Furgason, of Edinburg. Mr. Davis is a member of the K. of P.
order, and with his wife belongs to the Christian Church.
Miles DeCoursey, farmer, Blue River Township, was born
in Nineveh Township, Johnson Countv, Ind., Julv 10, 1839, aiK ^ ' s
the voungest son of John and Phebe ( Barnes ) DeCoursev, natives
of Kentucky, and of French and German descent, respectivclv.
John and Phebe DeCoursey were married in Henry County, Ky.,
and in 1832 moved to Indiana, and settled in Johnson Counts',
where the father farmed for several years. He died February,
1S57, in Huntington Countv, where he moved five years before.
Mrs. DeCoursev is still living, a remarkably well-preserved old
lady of eighty-one. Mr. and Mrs. DeCoursey were the parents of
seven children, three living, two in this countv and one in Missouri.
The immediate subject of this biography was raised a farmer, and
remained with his father until the latter's death. He resided for
some years in Johnson, Morgan, Marion and Grant counties, and
later returned to Johnson, settling in Blue River Township, where
he owns a handsomelv improved farm of seventy-two acres.
August, 1861, Mr. DeCoursey enlisted in Company F, Seventh
Indiana Volunteer Infantry, Col. Dumont's regiment, for the three
years' service, but was discharged at the expiration of eighteen
months, on account of phvsical disabilities. He was with the regi-
ment in the bloody battles of Greenbrier, Bull Run, South Moun-
tain, Antietam, and several more engagements, in all of which he
bore the part of a true and faithful soldier. His disability was of
such a nature, that upon one occasion, at Frederick City, Md., his
phvsicians abandoned all hopes of his recoverv. and sent the tidings
of his death to his mother. January 20, 186S, Mr. DeCoursey
and Miss Hannah Mitchell, daughter of Joseph Mitchell, were
united in marriage. To this union have been born four children,
viz.: John W., Arthur I., Minnie G. and Ernst, all living at home.
D. L. Demixg, the subject of this biography, was born in
the town of Edinburg, Ind., August 27, 1854, an< ^ i ,s a son °^ ^ - J"
and Heppy Deming, of English and German descent, respectively.
The father was for some years a prominent merchant of Edinburg,
but is now engaged in agricultural pursuits in Bartholomew County.
He has been twice married, his first wife, whose maiden name was
Sallie White, and by whom he had one child. He afterward mar-
ried her sister, Heppy White, who has borne him five children,
three living, whose names are as follows: Clara, wife of John A.
Thompson, Mary, and D. L., the subject of this sketch. D. L.
Deming was raised in Bartholomew County, and received a com-
mon school education, supplemented by one year's attendance at
412 JOHNSON COUNTY.
Butler University, Irvington, Ind., where he graduated in the com-
mercial course. On quitting school he accepted a clerkship in the
dry goods house of John Walsh, Edinburg, and after spending one
year in his employ, accepted a similar position with John A. Carvin,
with whom he remained five years. Severing his connection with
his employer, Mr. Deming next engaged in business for himself,
dealing in agricultural implements in Edinburg, with an interest in
the same kind of a house in Franklin. He carried on a very suc-
cessful business until quite recently, when he sold out both stores.
He owns a fine farm in Nineveh Township, a good property in
Edinburg, and is justly considered one of the substantial and ener-
getic citizens of Johnson County. Politically, he wields an influ-
ence for the republican party, but has never aspired to political
honors, preferring to spend his time and talents in other directions.
He is a member of the I. O. O. F., belonging to the lodge in Edin-
burg. October n. 1882, he solemnized his marriage with Miss
Mary, daughter of Peter J. and Mary (Brewer) Banta, one of the
oldest and most highly esteemed families of the county. The fruits
of this union are two children, namely: Byron J. and Edwin L.
Deming.
Abraham Deupree (deceased) was a native of Kentucky,
born in Nicholas County, that state, on the 17th day of June, 1S11.
His paternal ancestors were French Huguenots, and the family
history can be traced back through many generations to the mas-
sacre of St. Bartholomew, in which so many protestants lost their
lives. Two members of the family t-scaped from France, shortly
after the massacre, and making their way through England, came
to America, and settled in the colony of Virginia. The descendents
of these two brothers subsequently emigrated to North Carolina
and Kentucky, and from the latter state the father of the subject
of this sketch, came to Indiana in 1822, and located near the pres-
ent site of Edinburg. Soon after the family's arrival in the new
country, the father died, leaving a widow and five small children.
Abraham at this time was a mere youth, of twelve or thirteen
years. Thus early deprived of his father he was obliged to make
his own way in life, and impressed with the necessity of an education
he attended such schools as the county afforded, until he was able to
teach. For some years he taught school during the winter seasons,
and worked on the farm the rest of the year, and by prudent man-
agement succeeded in laying the foundation for the comfortable
competence, with which his later life was blessed. In 1833, he
married Hannah B. Carter, daughter of Nathan and Elizabeth
(Leonard) Carter, of New Jersev, who bore him seven children,
six of whom are now living. He became a member of the Christian
BLUE RIVER TOWNSHIP. 413
Church of Edinburg, at the time of its organization in 1834, as did
also his wife, and until his death was an earnest and consistent Chris-
tian, having been licensed to preach in the year 1840. Although he
never excelled as a public speaker, yet his talents were far above
mediocrity, and bv his earnest efforts in behalf of the church, did as
much, if not more than any other member, to place it upon its present
substantial footing. He was a strict temperance man, abstained from
the use of tobacco and intoxicants in all their forms; and shrank
not from the performance of any duty for the bettering of the con-
dition of his fellow man. He left to mourn his loss, a widow, live
children, and sixteen grand-children. Mrs. Deupree joined the
church the same time as her husband, and is the only charter mem-
ber of the Edinburg congregation, now living.
John E. Deupree, son of Abraham and Elizabeth Deupree,
was born in Shelby County, Ind., on the 23d of June, 1S40. He
was reared in Johnson County, grew to manhood on a farm, and at
the age of twenty-two, with the spirit that animated the patriotic
voung men of the north, he entered the army as a member of the
Third Indiana Cavalry. lie served three years and one month,
and bore the part of a brave and gallant soldier on many bloody
battle fields, and was twice wounded — at Knoxville, Tenn., March,
1864, in the left shoulder, and at Goldsborough, N. C, 1865, in the
left shoulder blade, where the bullet still remains, the latter
wound disabling and unfitting him for active duties in the field.
He was discharged May, 1865, and immediately thereafter returned
to Johnson County and engaged in farming in Blue River Town-
ship, where he has since resided. He manages the home farm and
looks after the interest of his mother, who is an old lady of seventy-
live. He owns land in Shelby County, and has met with reasonable
success as a farmer and stock-raiser, being at this time one of the
well-to-do citizens of the community in which he resides. Novem-
ber, 1865, he was united in marriage to Miss Mary A. Kennedy,
by whom he had one child, who died in infancy. Mrs. Deupree died
in the year 1872, and on the 9th day of August, 1874, Mr. Deupree
married Miss Elsie Allen, who has borne him three children, viz. :
Marth E., Alpha A., and Avery E. Mr. and Mrs. Deupree are
members of the Christian Church.
James H. Dorsey, 'attorney at law, Edinburg, was born at the
town of St. Paul, Shelby'County, Ind., August 28, i860, and is a
son of Dr. James and Lydia A. (Hart) Dorsey. The father was
a native of New Jersey, but in early youth was taken by his par-
ents to Butler County, Ohio, where he grew to manhood. He
was a physician of extensive practice, and during a long and varied
professional experience earned the reputation of one of the most
414 JOHNSON COUNTY.
successful medical men of southern Indiana, having moved to this
state a number of years ago. lie began the practice of his profes-
sion in Shelby County, and until his death, in March, 1862, com-
manded a large and lucrative business in the counties of Shelbv
and Decatur. Lydia A. Hart, wife of Dr. Dorse)', was descended
from Scotch ancestry, on the father's side, and maternally from Irish.
Some years after the death of her husband, she married Robert
Armstrong, of Edinburg, who departed this life in 1873, leaving one
daughter, viz. : Mary Armstrong. By her first marriage Mrs.
Armstrong had two children, the subject of this sketch being the
younger. James H. Dorsey was reared principally in Johnson
County, Ind., and at the age of seventeen graduated with honors
from the Edinburg high school, delivering the valedictory address
upon the occasion. He afterward became a student of Moore's
Hill College, in which he completed the prescribed course, his
grades of examination during the period of his attendance averag-
ing ninety per cent., the maximum of the institution. Impressed
with a strong desire to enter the legal profession, Mr. Dorsey read
law as opportunities would admit, under the instruction of William
A. Johnson, and after obtaining a knowledge of the profession, was
admitted to the bar in 18S1, being at the time barely twentv-one
years of age. He began the practice in Edinburg, with the late
C. W. Snow, Esq., and soon succeeded in establishing quite a
profitable business, which he subsequentlv discontinued, and re-
moved to Colby Count) - , Kan., where he was for some time en-
gaged in the real estate and abstract business. Owing to the poor
health of his wife he was compelled to leave Kansas, and return to
Indiana, where he has since resided in the enjoyment of a lucrative
practice in the courts of Johnson and other counties, being at this
time city attorney of Edinburg. Politically, Mr. Dorsev wields an
influence for the republican party, and in his professional and social
relations, enjoys in a large measure the respect and confidence of
his fellow citizens. Miss Adda, daughter of Alexander and Re-
becca (Thompson) Breeding, became his wife on the 10th day of
September, 18S1, a union blessed with the birth of two children,
namely: Howard A. and Fred J. Mrs. Dorsey died on the 12th
day of April, 1885, and lies buried in the Edinburg cemetery.
Martin V. Ensley, retired farmer, is a native of Shelby
County, Ind., born on the 19th day of December, 1830. Isaac
Ensley, the father of Martin V. Ensley, was born in New York,
and accompanied his parents to Shelby County, Ind., where he grew
to manhood. He married, in that county, Martha A. Brown,
daughter of Harvey and Patience Brown, who were among the
earliest settlers in Jackson Township. Isaac and Patience Ens-
BLUE RIVER TOWNSHIP. 415
ley were the parents of the following children, viz. : Pauline,
Bailor and Martin V., the subject, being the only member of the
family now living. Mr. Ensley died in 1S32. Mrs. Ensley subse-
quently married Hugh Smiley, an early school-teacher of Johnson
County. She departed this life in May, 1842. Being thus early
deprived of his only friend and protector, young Martin Ensley was
placed under the especial care of a guardian, John J. Lewis, and for
two or three years thereafter, was compelled to work from place
to place bv the month, in order to obtain a livelihood. In 1849,
when nineteen years of age, he began farming for himself on the
old home place, and on March 21, 1S51. he was united in marriage
with Miss Lvdia Smock, daughter of Henry and Sarah (Burch)
Smock, a union blessed with the birth of four children, namely:
Sarah, wife of William H.Jones; W. A.; Rachel, wife of George
Lewis, and Emma, wife of Byron Duffey. Mr. Ensley has made
the pursuit of agriculture a life work, and has been more than or-
dinarily successful in his chosen calling. He has added to his
farm until he has become the owner of several valuable tracts of
real estate, some of which he divided among his children. He still
owns the old farm of 280 acres in Jackson Township, Shelby
County. In 1SS1, Mr. Ensley retired from active life, since which
time he has been a resident of Edinburg. He is a democrat in
politics, and since 1876, has been an active member of the Metho-
dist Church. His first wife died in August, 1877, and on the 20th
day of November, 1879, ms second marriage was solemnized with
Miss Selina Varner, of Hamilton County, Ohio, daughter of
Thomas and Martha (Lefeber ) Varner. Thomas and Martha Var-
ner were early residents of the above county and state, and were
the parents of the following children, viz. : Saline, Eliza, Sarah
(deceased), Amanda, and T. Henry Varner. By his second mar-
riage, Mr. Ensley is the father of one child, to wit: Edgar E. Ensley.
J. D. Fee, the subject of this sketch, is descended from Scotch
ancestry, the original name being McDutfie, by which a well-known
clan in the early history of Scotland, was known. The clan
McDuffie was early subjected to religious persecution, in conse-
quence of which the majority of that name were compelled to flee
their native country and take refuge in Ireland, where in time the
name became changed to McFee. Still later, the clan was lepre-
sented in England, where the name subsequently became anglicized
to Fee, by which it has been known since about the year 1700.
In 1 780, several representatives of the Fee family came to Amer-
ica and settled in Pennsylvania, thence later to Kentucky, where,
as early as 1798, the name was well-known among the settlers of
Maysville and Boone"s Fort. The ancestors of J. D. Fee were
416 JOHNSON" COUNTY.
among the early pioneers of Clermont County, Ohio, where his
grandfather, Rev. Elijah Fee, acquired some celebrity as a minister
of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Jacob and Elizabeth (Cam-
rex- •, Fee, parents of J. D.. were both natives of Clermont County,
Ohio. Thev had a family of eleven children, nine of whom are
now living, J. D. being the youngest. The subject was born in the
town of Moscow, Clermont County, Ohio, March 3, 1S41, and re-
ceived a practical education in the schools of his native town. He
was raised on a farm, and remained under the parental roof until
the age of seventeen, when he entered the army, enlisting August
1, 1862, in CompaiTy D, Second Ohio Artillery, with which he
served two years. During that time he took part in several active
campaigns, and bore a gallant part in some of the bloodiest battles
of the war, including Shiloh, Stone River, Lookout Mountain,
Nashville, and numerous minor engagements. At the expiration
of his term of service, he was honorablv discharged, and imme-
diately thereafter returned to his native county, and engaged in
farming, which he followed about two years. In the spring of
1 868, he came to Edinburg, where, until 18S8, his principal busi-
ness was painting and paper hanging. In February, of the latter vear,
he purchased an interest in the hardware store of L. Compton, and
the firm of Compton & Fee is now one of the leading business firms
of the city. Thev carry a large assortment of general hardware,
tinware and stoves, their stock representing a value of $6,000.
Mr. Fee is an active member of the G. A. R., I. O. O. F., and
W. O. H., and in politics supports the principles of the republican
party. He has always manifested a live interest in municipal af-
fairs, and is at this time a member of the town board of Edinburg.
November, 1S66, he married Miss Hattie A. Parker, daughter of
James E. and Catherine Parker, of Clermont County, Ohio. Mr.
and Mrs. Fee are members of the Edinburg Methodist Episcopal
Church.
Thomas B. Forelander was born in Monroe County. Ya.,
October 31, 1S24, and is a son of Lewis and Susan (Sparr) Fore-
lander. Paternally, Mr. Forelander is descended from Dutch an-
cestry, his father having been born in Holland. On his mother's
side he is of German lineage, although his mother was a native of
Pennsylvania. Lewis Forelander was a tanner bv trade, and fol-
lowed his calling for a number of years in Pennsylvania, in which
state his death occurred. His widow afterward emigrated to Ohio,
thence later to Indiana, in several counties of which she lived at
different times, mainly Union, Ilenrv, Hancock and Johnson, moving
to the last named in 1S38. Mr. and Mrs. Forelander have a family
of four children, two of whom: Catherine, wife of J. D. Collier,
BLUE RIVER TOWNSHIP. 417
and Thomas B., are now living. Thomas B. Forelancler remained
with his mother until her death. He early learned the milling
trade in Johnson County, and did his first work in John A. Thomp-
son's mills, at Edinburg, where he continued several years. lie
has followed milling all his life, principally in Johnson County, and
has the reputation of being one of the best millers in this section of
the state. He has been an honored resident of Johnson County for
half a century, and during that long period of residence no shadow
of suspicion has been breathed against his good name or Christian
character. He is an active member of the church, an uncompro-
mising advocate of temperance reform, and a republican in politics.
In i860, he was united in marriage with Miss America, daughter
of Joseph and Sarah (Ruffin) Spicer, who were born in the States
of North Carolina and Kentucky, respectively. Mrs. Forelander
was born in Johnson County, Ind., and is the mother of five child-
ren, two of whom are living, viz.: Susie and William L. Forelander.
Mr. Forelander is at this time assessor of Blue River Township.
J. P. Frost (deceased), whose biographical sketch is here-
with presented, was a native of Ohio, Richland County, born on the
8th day of March, 1S23. In early life he learned the trade of car-
pentering and cabinet-making, in the city of Mansfield, Ohio, and
after becoming proficient in the same, emigrated to Trimble County,
Kv., where he followed his chosen calling several years. On
the 2ist day of February, 1850, he married Miss Amanda V.
McCormick, daughter of Adam and Rachel (Bellows) McCor-
mick, a union blessed with the birth of four children, two of whom
are living, namely : Minerva, now Mrs. Miles H.Mitchell, and Mary E.
(Mrs. Thomas E. Valentine). For a period of three years Mr. Frost
exercised his mechanical skill in the construction of boats for the Ohio
River, but in 1856, came to Edinburg, Ind., and resumed carpentering
and cabinet-making, which he carried on quite successfully for some
time. He subsequently abandoned mechanical pursuits for the gro-
cery business, and after following that branch of trade for some
years engaged in the undertaking business. Mr. Frost was rea-
sonably successful in the accumulation of property, and occupied a
conspicuous place among the leading citizens of Edinburg. He was
an earnest member of the Methodist Church, and for a number of
years an active worker in the Masonic fraternity. He died at his
home in Edinburg, on the 27th day of April, 1880. Mrs. Frost, who
is still living, was born on the 7th day of March, 1823. She is a
remarkably well-preserved lady, and has a large circle of friends in
and around Edinburg. She and daughters, Mrs. Mitchell and Mrs.
Valentine, are members of the Edinburg Methodist Episcopal
Church.
Alb JOHNSON COUNTY.
Orlando Furnas, miller, Blue River Township, is a native of
Clinton County, Ohio, and third son of Joseph and Elizabeth (Bal-
lard) Furnas. Joseph Furnas was born of English parentage, in
South Carolina, and at the age of two years was taken to Ohio, in
which state he resided from 1S04 to 1838. In the latter year he
moved to Marion County, Ind., and opened a tavern on the Old
National Road, which business he conducted several years. His
wife dving in 1S47, he returned to Ohio, where he farmed until
1852, and then engaged in the milling business. He subsequently
resumed farming, and followed that occupation until his death on
the 13th day of January, 1870. He lost his first wife in 1845, and
later married Mrs. Howk (nee Compton), by whom he had one
child. By his first marriage Mr. Furnas had a family of eight
children, three now living, to wit: the subject of this sketch. Mrs.
Mary J. Lewis and Mrs. Ruth E. Guver. Orlando Furnas was
born on the 8th day of October, 1S35, aiK ^ when young, learned
the miller's trade with his father, in Clinton County, Ohio. He
worked at the trade in his native state, and later in Marion and
Johnson counties, Ind. He was at one time employed in the Car-
lisle mill, Indianapolis, and in 1856, started a mill on Eagle Creek,
Marion County, for David Baker, with whom he remained two
years. He next operated a mill in the town of Bridgeport, the
same county, which burned in 1859, entailing upon him a serious
loss, in fact breaking him up financially. Shortly after this disaster
he went back to Ohio, where he worked at milling about eighteen
months and then returned to Indiana, and became superintendent
of Beeler & Fletcher's large mills in Marion County, where he
was employed for thirteen years. In 1875, he came to Johnson
County and purchased what was known as the Old Foster Mill in
Blue River Township, which he has since improved and supplied
with machinery for the manufacture of flour by the roller process.
The mill stands on the west bank of Sugar Creek, has a capacity
of sixty barrels per day, and is one of the best and most successful
mills in the county. Mr. Furnas has been identified with the mill-
ing business since 1852, and is one of the most expert manufac-
turers of flour in this section of the country. He has been
successful financially, owning mill property representing a value of
$12,000, and a finely improved farm of 150 acres. He was married
in 1S58, in Marion County, Ind., to Miss Rebecca Ross, of Mont-
gomery County, Ohio, daughter of Henry J. and Sarah (Carter)
Ross. Mr. and Mrs. Furnas are the parents of six children,
namely: Sarah A. (deceased), Cyrus I., Henry E., Eugene, Ella
and Lucy Ann. Mr. Furnas has always taken an active part in poli-
tics, and in 1S83, was -elected representative in the legislature on
^
BLUE RIVER TOWNSHIP.
419
the republican-prohibition ticket. He is a member of the Masonic
order, and with his wife, belongs to the Methodist Episcopal
Church.
Capt. Charles Griffith, mechanic, Edinburgh was born in
Franklin County, Ohio, January 19, 1830, and is a son of Charles
and Jane (Johnson ) Grilhth, of the same state, the father of Irish,
and the mother of Welsh, descent. The family moved to Jennings
County, Ind., when the subject was but an infant, and there young
Griffith grew to manhood, attending in the meantime such schools
as his neighborhood afforded. On attaining his majority he began
the blacksmithing trade, at the town of Queensville, and after work-
ing in that place a short time, located in Vernon, and still later in
Franklin, Johnson County, in all of which places he was reasonably
successful in his business. From Franklin he went to Decatur
County and opened a shop in the town of Sardinia, where he
worked for a period of about live years. He married in Jennings
County, in 1855, Miss Camelia McKeehan, a union blessed with four
children, two of whom, Ella, wife of E. E. Carvin, and George S.,
are now living. Mr. Griffith responded to the country's call in 1861,
enlisting that year in Company D, Seventh Indiana Infantry,
with which he shared the fortunes and vicissitudes of war until
honorably discharged, at the expiration of his three years' term of
service. He entered the army as second lieutenant of his company,
was subsequently promoted to first lieutenant, and still later, for
gallant and meritorious service, was given the command of the
company, and held a captain's commission from that time until dis-
charged in 1864. Capt. Griffith was a brave and gallant officer,
greatly beloved by the men whom he led on many blood} - battle-
fields. At the close of the war he returned to his family in Jennings
County, and the same year, in the fall of 1864, he moved to Edin-
burg, where he has since resided, in the pursuit of his trade. Mr.
Griffith is a skillful mechanic, and by diligent application to his call-
ing, has succeeded in accumulating a comfortable competence,
including a pleasant home and several other residences in Edinburg.
He is essentially a self-made man, and as such, commands the re-
spect of his fellow townsmen and others.
John Hamner, one of the oldest living settlers of Johnson
County, is a native of Mercer County, Ky., and the third of a
family of seven children, born to John and Mary (Neubarv)
Hamner. His parents were both born in Virginia. John and
Mary Hamner moved to Kentucky a short time after their mar-
riage, and from the latter state in 1823, came to Johnson County,
Ind., and settled near the present site of Edinburg. Here they
lived upon a farm until their deaths, which occurred at the ad-
27
420 JOHNSON COUNTY.
vanced ages of eighty and seventy, respectively. John Hamner,
Si\, was a soldier in the War of Independence, during which
struggle he participated in a number of battles, among which was
the last engagement in which the American Army under General
Washington took place. The subject of this biography was born
Feburary 5, 1S10, and was thirteen years of age when his parents
moved to Johnson County. He was reared a farmer, and for a
period of sixty-five years has been a resident of this county, during
which time he has occupied an honorable place in the community,
and commanded the respect and confidence of all who knew him.
His life-work has been that of a farmer, and at this time he owns
200 acres of valuable land, in the County of Edinburg, and lives
upon the place where his father settled in 1823. Mr. Hamner
has been twice married, the first time in 1832 to Miss Nancy Lash,
daughter of Joseph and Mary Lash, by whom he had six children,
only two of whom are living, to-wit: Samuel and Maria (Miss
Durbin). Mrs. Hamner died June 20, 1849, an ^ lw0 years later
Mr. Hamner was united in marriage to Mrs. Mitchell, who died on
the 8th day of September, 1885. No children were born to his
last marriage, but by a previous union with Mr. Mitchell, Mrs. Ham-
ner had two children, one of whom is now living. Mr. Hamner is a
representative democrat of the old school, having always been an
earnest supporter of the principles of that party. He is now living
a quiet and retired life, which only those who have battled success-
fully with the world for over three quarters of a century, know how
to appreciate.
Samuel Hamner, fifth son of John and Nancy (Lash) Ham-
ner, was born in Johnson Countv, Ind., November 18, 1S42. He
was raised on a farm and received but limited educational training,
having attended a single term of school in an old log school-house,
which formerlv stood upon the spot now occupied by his residence
in Blue River Township. At the age of eighteen, Mr. Hamner
began life for himself as a renter on his father's farm, and later
obtained a tract of land of his own, which he subsequently sold,
and purchased his present place in the western part of Blue River
Township. October 29, he married Miss Honorah E. Abbott,
daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth (Warner) Abbott. Mrs. Ham-
ner was born in Johnson County, but the marriage was solemnized
in the town of Bedford, Kv. Mr. and Mrs. Hamner are the par-
ents of nine children, four of whom, John T., Andrew, James and
George E., are living. Mr. Hamner owns a valuable farm of 100
acres, and is one of the substantial citizens of the township. He
is a democrat in politics, and a member of the Methodist Church,
as is also his wife.
BLUE RIVER TOWXSIIU'.
4 2r
E. M. Hardy, editor and proprietor of the Edinburg Courier,
is a native of Washington Count)', Ind., born in the town of Salem
on the 24th day of February, 1857. His parents, Niles and Maria
(Bliss) Hardy, were born in Massachusetts, but early settled
in Washington County, where, for a number of years, the father
was a distinguished physician. He practiced his profession in the
town of Salem, and died there when the subject of this sketch was
but six months old. Mrs. Hardy is still living, having rea